FANCIES,    FASHIONS,    AND    FADS 


A   PATRICIAN   OF  THE   PAST 


FANCIES  FASHIONS 
AND  FADS 


RALPH  NEVILL 

AUTHOR  OF  "THE  MERRY  PAST,"  "LONDON  CLUBS,"  ETC. 
EDITOR  OF  "  UNDER  FIVE  REIGNS  " 


WITH   A   FRONTISPIECE 


NEW  YORK 

BRENTANO'S 


CONTENTS 


PAGE 

I.     SOCIETY  .       i 


II.  POLITICS      ......           28 

III.  BOHEMIA  .            .            .            .            .            .57 

IV.  RESTAURANTS          ....  92 
V.  PARIS    .            .            .            .            .            .            -123 

VI.  ART,  YESTERDAY  AND  TO-DAY      .            .            .160 

VII.     FASHION 189 

VIII.  UNIFORMS — OLD  AND  NEW           .            .            .         212 

IX.     FADS 248 

X.  DEMOCRACY             .            .            .                         .277 
INDEX    .            .            .            .            .            .            -  305 


2055792 


FANCIES,    FASHIONS,    AND    FADS 


SOCIETY 

NOTHING  in  this  world  is  entirely  new:  the 
generations  of  men  as  they  glide  along  like 
the  waves   of  a  rapid    stream   resemble   each 
other  far  more  than  is  generally  conceived.     Making 
allowances    for   the    different    conditions    of    various 
epochs,  the  sum  total   of  vice  and   virtue,   joy   and 
sorrow,  remains  about  the  same. 

Of  late  we  have  been  surfeited  with  plaints  as  to 
the  sins  and  shortcomings  of  the  wealthier  classes 
and  the  frivolity  of  London  Society.  In  all  proba- 
bility it  is  not  a  bit  worse  or  better  than  in  the 
past :  its  sense  of  dignity,  however,  has  completely 
disappeared. 

"  The  two  chief  characteristics  of  London  Society 
are  its  simplicity  and  heartlessness.  It  is  amused 
with  marvellous  ease.  The  smallest  of  practical 
jokes  is  enough  to  set  it  in  a  roar.  The  slightest 
eccentricity  of  demeanour  plunges  it  in  a  paroxysm 
of  laughter.  Gossip  that  is  perfectly  puerile  delights 
it.  Any  trivial  scandal,  the  tale  of  which  is  told  with- 


2   FANCIES,  FASHIONS,  AND  FADS 

out  point,  epigram,  or  even  antithesis,  is  welcomed 
as  the  best  thing  in  the  world.  In  Paris  a  certain 
flavour  of  wit  or  humour  is  expected.  There  is  no 
necessity  of  anything  of  the  kind  in  London.  These 
grown-up  men  and  women,  who  laugh  at  the  recital 
of  imbecilities  and  ineptitudes,  are  as  easily  enter- 
tained as  children.  Like  children,  too,  they  love  to 
parade  their  own  vices,  and  to  make  themselves  out 
a  thousand  times  more  wicked  than  they  are.  No 
society  could  exist  if  it  was  half  as  corrupt  as  the 
members  of  London  Society,  to  judge  from  their 
casual  talk,  or  from  the  significance  which  their 
comments  and  illusions  are  intended  to  convey. 
But  it  is  talk  only — the  lax  garrulity  of  a  race 
which  is  still  laboriously  endeavouring  to  emancipate 
itself  from  the  fetters  of  Puritanism." 

This  view  of  Society,  it  should  be  added,  was 
not  written  yesterday,  but  in  1885;  and  the  people 
criticized  are  those  who  now  deplore  the  frivolity 
of  the  present  generation.  If  the  critic  had  pointed 
out  how  the  Upper  Classes  were  letting  their  tra- 
ditional power  slip  from  their  grasp,  he  would  have 
been  doing  them  a  greater  service,  for,  though  at 
the  date  in  question,  "  Society,"  in  the  old  meaning 
of  the  word,  was  already  well  on  the  down-grade, 
it  still  played  a  very  considerable  part  in  ruling 
England.  Many  of  its  members,  it  is  true,  were 
unthinking  and  frivolous,  but  there  were  quite  a 
number  of  serious  and  high-minded  men  and 
women  who  drew  a  hard-and-fast  line  against 
many  things  which  are  freely  tolerated  to-day. 


"MON  MONDE"  3 

Money,  though  thoroughly  appreciated,  did  not 
command  the  power  which  it  at  present  enjoys  ; 
besides,  people  were  rather  particular  how  it  had  been 
got,  or,  at  least,  pretended  to  be  so — a  great  difference 
this  from  the  present  state  of  affairs  of  seeing  "  no 
filthiness  in  any  lucre." 

Millionaires  were  not  allowed  to  ride  rough-shod 
over  others  by  reason  of  their  wealth  ;  indeed,  many 
of  them  were  merely  tolerated,  like  "  Louis  Quatorze  " 
— a  nickname  conferred  upon  a  certain  rich  alien, 
whose  Christian  name  was  Louis,  because  he  was 
never  asked  to  dinner  except  when  an  extra  guest  was 
required  to  prevent  the  party  being  thirteen. 

To-day,  at  least  among  that  ridiculous  section 
known  as  the  "  Smart  Set,"  millionaires  of  no  matter 
what  race  are  indisputably  lords  paramount  by  right 
of  superabundant  cash. 

The  days  indeed  have  gone  when  any  attempt  at 
arrogance  on  the  part  of  men  or  women  of  Semitic 
extraction  was  sternly  and  promptly  repressed. 

"  I  am  sorry  I  cannot  send  Mr.  X  an  invitation  to 
my  party,"  wrote  a  wealthy  heiress  of  Hebrew  parent- 
age to  one  of  her  husband's  relatives  who  had  asked 
for  a  card  for  a  friend.  "As  you  must  realize,  he  is 
not  of  mon  monde" 

11 1  agree  with  you  about  Mr.  X  not  being  of  your 
monde"  came  the  reply  ;  "his  father  was  not  a  Jew 
banker,  but  only  an  English  gentleman  of  ancient 
family." 

The  late  King  Edward,  who  regarded  the  best  class 
of  Hebrews  with  conspicuous  favour,  first  assured 


4   FANCIES,  FASHIONS,  AND  FADS 

them  the  social  consideration  they  now  enjoy.  In 
that,  as  in  other  matters,  he  set  a  fashion  which  has 
had  far-reaching  social  effects. 

To-day,  numbers  of  people,  whose  ancestors  would 
not  have  sat  down  at  the  same  table  with  anyone  of 
Semitic  lineage,  bow  the  knee  before  the  descendants 
of  the  tribes. 

English  Society,  indeed,  is  now  dominated  by  a 
plutocracy  to  a  considerable  extent  Hebraic  in  its 
composition. 

Though  no  sensible  individual  can  approve  of 
attempts  to  arouse  racial  hatred  or  view  Anti-Semitism 
with  anything  but  disgust,  there  is  no  doubt  but  that 
something  akin  to  an  Oriental  social  domination  is 
half  on  its  way  to  being  brought  about  in  modern 
England. 

I  doubt,  however,  whether  our  conquerors  are 
entirely  at  their  ease.  Though  great  wealth  may 
bring  influence  and  power,  it  brings  also  care  and 
apprehension.  The  Colchian  ram  with  the  golden 
fleece,  though  furnished  with  wings,  was  probably  in 
constant  fear  of  getting  sheared. 

More  breezy  and  irresponsible  are  the  wealthy 
Americans  who  make  England  their  playground. 
These  happily  appear  to  have  little  effect  upon 
our  national  life.  American  ideas  do  not  seem 
easily  to  acclimatize  themselves  on  British  soil.  Not- 
withstanding our  close  connexion  with  the  United 
States,  expressions  or  words  only  with  great  difficulty 
become  part  of  our  daily  speech. 

"  Swank,"    an    expressive   adjective    most    appro- 


THE   MODERN    HEAVEN  5 

priately  of  pure  transatlantic  origin,  has  gained  a 
speedy  popularity  at  least  among  the  masses,  but 
other  anglicized  American  words  are  comparatively 
rare. 

Railroad,  of  course,  shares  an  almost  equal  popu- 
larity with  our  own  railway,  which,  nevertheless,  is 
unquestionably  more  fitting  and  expressive,  as  well  as 
more  euphonious.  Telegram,  a  Greek  compound 
which  cannot  grammatically  be  justified,  is  another 
American  invention  which  has  gained  a  permanent 
foothold. 

Though  on  the  whole  our  friends  from  across  the 
Atlantic  have  not  affected  the  habits  of  the  people 
at  large,  they  have  certainly  done  a  good  deal  to  alter 
our  aristocracy,  a  considerable  portion  of  which  has 
unconsciously  assimilated  various  American  ways  and 
notions.  In  addition  to  this,  quite  a  number  of  our 
younger  peers  are  of  semi-American  origin. 

If,  as  Carlyle  said,  the  modern  hell  is  the  hell  of 
not  making  money,  the  making  of  money  to  an 
unlimited  extent  is  certainly  the  modern  Yankee 
heaven.  Not  unnaturally,  many  exposed  to  wealthy 
transatlantic  influences  are  dominated  by  the  same  idea. 
Americans,  like  the  representatives  of  the  Hebrew 
race,  also  largely  benefited  by  the  affability  of  the  late 
King,  who  had  a  particular  liking  for  visitors  from 
across  the  Atlantic,  especially  if  they  were  rich  or 
beautiful.  Many  of  the  latter,  having  married  into  the 
peerage,  have  become  more  or  less  English,  but 
nevertheless  they  generally  keep  in  touch  with  their 
countrymen  and  women.  They  are,  however,  prone 


6       FANCIES,   FASHIONS,   AND   FADS 

to  become  jealous  of  any  new  arrivals  who  contrive 
to  achieve  a  like  social  success. 

Marriages  between  Englishmen  of  good  family  and 
wealthy  heiresses  from  the  States  have  of  late  years 
been  so  frequent  that  a  large  number  of  old  families 
are  now  connected  by  ties  of  blood  with  the  great 
millionaire-producing  country  across  the  Atlantic. 

An  American  plutocrat,  of  no  matter  what  origin, 
has  now  come  to  look  upon  the  purchase  of  an  English 
peer  for  his  daughter  as  a  perfectly  natural  appanage 
of  great  wealth.  The  difficulty  with  mothers  and 
fathers  of  good-looking  daughters  with  plenty  of 
dollars  is  not  to  get  a  peer  but  to  get  a  good  one. 

Wise  parents,  it  is  understood,  keep  a  list  of  eligible 
young  noblemen,  and,  as  a  handy  American  guide  now 
gives  a  full  account  of  those  best  suited  for  marriage- 
able purposes,  there  is  really  no  excuse  for  mistakes. 
A  plan  likely  to  yield  good  results  is  to  keep  two  or 
three  strings  on  the  bow,  thus  if  one  aristocratic 
bridegroom  fails  another  can  be  at  once  secured. 

Meanwhile  an  intermediary  in  England  is  instructed 
to  see  how  things  are  going,  and,  if  necessary,  pack 
off  eligible  suitors  to  any  given  point.  This 
system  was  not  very  long  ago  employed  in  the  most 
efficient  manner  possible.  The  mother  of  a  very 
wealthy  American  young  lady  had  for  some  time 
hesitated  whether  her  daughter  should  marry  a  rather 
dissipated  foreign  grandee  or  a  thoroughly  impe- 
cunious but  quiet  and  gentlemanlike  English  peer, 
absolutely  warranted  to  give  no  trouble. 

Owing   to    unsatisfactory    reports    concerning    the 


A   GOOD    BARGAIN  7 

foreign  grandee,  choice  ultimately  fell  upon  the 
English  peer.  A  telegraphic  summons — "  Grandee 
off,  send  along  peer " — dispatched  to  an  accommo- 
dating English  friend  caused  the  jubilant  nobleman 
to  sail  for  America  at  a  day's  notice.  He  is  now 
married,  and  in  every  way  has  turned  out  a  most 
satisfactory  bargain. 

Such  a  transaction  as  this  could  not  have  occurred 
in  former  days.  The  old  English  aristocrat  always 
chose ;  rarely  did  he  consent  to  be  chosen. 

While  the  system  of  re-establishing  the  family 
fortunes  by  tacitly  consenting  to  be  purchased  by 
American  dollars  has  saved  a  few  estates,  it  is 
undoubtedly  a  proof  that  the  English  aristocracy  has 
degenerated  in  character  and  backbone,  the  pitiful 
ideal  of  a  considerable  section  of  it  being  "  What  does 
anything  matter  as  long  as  I  have  a  good  time  ?  " 

Attached  though  one  may  be  to  the  idea  of 
a  dominant  aristocracy,  it  is  impossible  to  be 
enthusiastic  about  many  of  its  modern  repre- 
sentatives— 

"Who  have  mildewed  in  their  thousands  doing  nothing. 
.  .  .  Why,  the  greater  their  disgrace  ! 
Fall  back  not  upon  a  name  !     Rest,  rot  in  that  ! 
Not  keep  it  noble,  make  it  noble  !     Fools, 
With  such  a  vantage-ground  for  nobleness  ! " 

Born  into  an  age  when  an  alert  mentality  counts 
as  it  never  counted  before,  the  vast  majority 
entirely  fail  to  grasp  the  situation,  and  are  content, 
notwithstanding  the  considerable  advantages  which 


8   FANCIES,  FASHIONS,  AND  FADS 

their  position  still  gives  them,  to  allow  the  reins  of 
power,  on  which  their  caste  formerly  kept  such  a 
firm  hold,  to  slip  completely  from  their  grasp. 

I  do  not  know  that,  even  from  a  physical  stand- 
point, they  are  as  a  class  as  well  developed  as 
their  predecessors,  who,  of  course,  lived  more  in 
the  country  and  spent  more  time  in  the  open  air. 

Not  that  the  aristocracy  or  Smart  Society  of 
to-day  despises  sport ;  on  the  contrary,  not  a  few 
devote  their  whole  lives  to  one  form  of  it  or 
another,  frequently  to  the  entire  exclusion  of  far 
more  important  interests  which  they  have  the  colossal 
folly  to  declare  merely  "  bore  them  "  ! 

It  may  be  taken  as  a  more  or  less  general  rule 
that  people  who  are  always  talking  about  being 
bored  should  be  classed  among  what  Nietzsche 
called  "slave  people."  Individuals  of  this  type, 
consumed  by  dread  of  ennui  and  a  desire  to  kill 
time,  are  not  really  fitted  to  be  entrusted  with  the 
priceless  boon  of  leisure  at  all,  nature  having  only 
fitted  them  to  be  hewers  of  wood  and  drawers  of  water. 

Those  who  declare  that  they  find  the  day  too 
long  invite  ill-luck.  A  sort  of  strange  fatality 
seems  to  be  attached  to  persons  who  fail  to  appre- 
ciate the  gifts  of  fortune.  Many  who  complain  that 
time  hangs  heavy  on  their  hands  are  unable  to 
find  enough  of  it  to  take  the  most  ordinary  care 
of  their  own  affairs,  the  consequence  being  that 
in  the  end  they  contrive  to  outlive  their  characters, 
their  constitutions,  and  their  properties. 

Living  always  in  the  same  kind  of  world  makes 


MILDEWED    BRAINS  9 

certain  individuals  as  unfit  for  living  out  of  it  as 
always  living  out  of  it  does  for  living  in  it,  all  sense 
of  proportion  being  annihilated. 

Idlers  who  mix  only  with  other  idlers  ready  to 
agree  with  them  become  more  and  more  fixed  in 
their  admiration  for  certain  ideals  of  a  petty  and 
unimportant  nature,  while  attaching  little  importance 
to  the  things  which  really  matter. 

I  myself  have  heard  an  owner  of  a  large  landed 
estate,  who  ought  to  have  known  better,  hold  up  as 
an  ideal  to  his  little  son  (whose  natural  bent  did  not 
appear  to  me  to  lie  in  the  direction  of  sport)  "  the 
making  of  the  biggest  bag  of  partridges  on  record." 
Considering  the  conditions  under  which  modern 
shooting  is  conducted,  he  might  just  as  well  have 
pointed  out  to  him  the  glory  of  going  to  Chicago 
and  converting  pigs  into  sausages  quicker  than  it 
had  ever  been  done  before. 

Like  the  majority  of  his  class,  this  thoughtless 
father  entirely  failed  to  realize  the  tendencies  of  the 
age.  Endowed  with  very  fair  brains,  unlimited 
leisure,  and  ample  wealth,  he  was,  as  it  were,  content 
to  mildew  away.  Had  he  chosen  to  adopt  a  public 
career,  and  if  he  had  anything  worth  saying,  full 
publicity  was  at  his  command.  Everything,  in  fact, 
went  in  his  favour,  and  what  did  he  do  ? — spent 
his  time  firing  off  his  gun  (it  must  be  admitted, 
with  considerable  accuracy)  at  interminable  flocks 
of  partridges  and  pheasants  in  order  to  outdo  some 
of  his  friends  who  were  obsessed  by  a  similar  mania ! 

Well   might    Dr.    Arnold   declare    that   there   was 


10      FANCIES,   FASHIONS,   AND   FADS 

no  earthly  thing  more  mean  and  despicable  than  an 
English  gentleman  destitute  of  all  sense  of  his 
responsibilities  and  opportunities,  and  only  revelling 
in  the  luxuries  of  our  high  civilization,  and  thinking 
himself  a  great  person. 

It  is  sad  to  think  how~much  the  great  families 
of  England  might  have  done,  and  how  small  are 
their  actual  performances  in  recent  times.  With 
their  inherited  wealth  and  prestige  they  could  easily 
have  retained  the  power  that  their  ancestors  used 
not  amiss. 

Unfortunately,  as  a  clever  Radical  writer  once  said, 
"  their  translation  of  the  phrase  noblesse  oblige  seems 
to  be  '  Nobility  obliges  us  to  do  nothing.'  " 

Shooting,  in  spite  of  humanitarian  twaddle,  is  an 
excellent  sport  which,  besides,  provides  very  palat- 
able and  wholesome  food  for  numbers  of  people, 
but  to  make  it  an  all-engrossing  hobby  is  ignoble 
and  utterly  unworthy  of  a  really  civilized  man.  It 
would  be  a  good  thing  for  a  large  proportion  of  the 
wealthier  class  if  this  were  realized. 

The  old-fashioned  aristocracy,  though  it  liked  its 
pleasures,  clearly  perceived  the  wisdom  of  gaining 
the  support  of  its  humble  neighbours.  The  less  far- 
seeing  aristocrat  of  to-day  too  often  sees  nothing  of 
the  small  local  gentry,  and  thus  alienates  a  valuable 
political  ally. 

No  wonder  that  many  a  landowner,  having  had  to 
exchange  his  luxurious  mansion  for  a  small  London 
flat,  sits  bewailing  that  Radical  legislation  is  ruining 
the  country — by  which,  of  course,  he  means  himself. 


MARRYING    FOR   MONEY  11 

The  fashion  of  despising  the  small  squirearchy, 
which  was  formerly  such  a  prop  of  the  large  land- 
owners, is  responsible  for  much  ill-feeling.  After 
all,  numbers  of  poor  countryfolk  are  in  reality  of 
better  blood  than  most  of  our  newly  manufactured 
peers.  They  are,  however,  ill-equipped  with  means 
and  there  is  nothing  to  be  got  out  of  them,  which, 
of  course,  constitutes  a  fatal  defect  in  the  eyes  of 
an  aristocracy  "on  the  make." 

Owing  to  various  sources  of  income,  such  as  sine- 
cures and  revenue  from  land,  being  greatly  lessened, 
the  upper  classes  have  of  late  been  forced  to  look 
about  for  some  means  of  replenishing  their  depleted 
coffers. 

Rich  marriages,  a  perfectly  correct  and  time- 
honoured  way  of  reviving  failing  fortunes,  cannot 
always  be  brought  off.  The  alternative  is,  there- 
fore, either  to  work  or  live  upon  somebody  else. 

High-spirited  scions  of  noble  descent  cannot 
extract  cash  from  foreign  financiers  so  easily  as 
their  ancestors  pillaged  the  Jews  of  the  Middle  Ages 
— a  number  of  whose  descendants,  by  the  way,  have 
since  taken  an  ample  revenge.  This  being  so,  it 
naturally  chooses  the  time-honoured  method  of 
making  a  rich  marriage.  The  aristocracy  of  Eng- 
land, as  a  matter  of  fact,  has  always  recruited  its 
fortunes  by  marriages  with  young  ladies  of  great 
wealth,  often,  even  in  the  past,  of  very  obscure 
birth. 

It  had  no  liking,  however,  for  marrying  girls 
of  no  family  with  no  money,  and  would  have  been 


\ 

12      FANCIES,   FASHIONS,   AND   FADS 

horrified  at  the  behaviour  of  some  of  the  younger 
generation  of  the  English  aristocracy  who  have 
foolishly  reversed  this  policy.  Instead  of  following 
their  ancestors'  examples  and  marrying  heiresses,  it 
has  become  quite  usual  for  young  fellows  of  good 
family  to  espouse  minor  stars  of  the  theatrical 
profession  whom  their  ancestors  of  the  eighteenth 
century  would  have  thought  only  good  enough  to 
wile  away  a  stray  hour  or  two  by  dancing  to  the 
music  of  a  blind  fiddler. 

Though  alliances  between  the  stage  and  the  peer- 
age were  not  unknown  after  the  latter  part  of  the 
eighteenth  century,  previous  to  that  period  they  were 
almost  unheard  of — pride  of  birth  prevented  that. 

Look  at  Hogarth's  pictures  of  the  old  nobleman 
(Lord  Scarsdale  of  the  first  creation)  with  his 
coroneted  crutch  pointing  to  his  family-tree  while 
he  is  arranging  the  marriage  of  his  son  with  the 
rich  merchant's  daughter.  He  is  bestowing  an  honour 
for  which  any  amount  of  bags  of  gold  are  but 
a  paltry  remuneration.  It  was  this  pride  of  birth, 
absurd  as  it  may  be,  which  kept  the  old  English 
aristocracy,  now  so  sadly  apologetic,  in  a  position  of 
power  and  command. 

As  the  old  emperors  and  kings  absolutely  believed 
that  they  ruled  by  right  divine,  so  did  these  old 
noblemen  believe  that  they  were  really  and  truly 
formed  of  a  clay  superior  to  that  which  went  to  the 
making  of  their  more  plebeian  fellows. 

This  may  have  been  a  nonsensical  idea,  but  if  you 
believe  a  thing  implicitly  it  is  already  half  true — at 


ARISTOCRATIC   BLOOD  13 

all  events,  you  will  certainly  get  a  number  of  other 
people  to  believe  it. 

The  old-fashioned  English  aristocrat  considered 
himself  of  an  entirely  different  type  from  the  rest  of 
the  world,  whom  at  heart  he  tolerated  only  on 
sufferance.  The  unswerving  and  unconscious  pride 
of  such  a  man  did  not  prevent  him  from  being  just 
and  kindly  in  his  relations  with  those  beneath  him 
in  the  social  scale.  His  ideas  of  duty  were  rigidly 
defined. 

One  of  the  best  definitions  of  the  characteristics  of 
this  type  was  the  criticism  which  the  Due  de  Broglie 
passed  upon  the  great  Duke  of  Wellington.  "  He 
was  a  thorough  Englishman,  and  one  of  the  old  stock; 
downright,  straightforward,  stable,  circumspect,  but 
stiff,  austere,  and  rather  narrow." 

It  may  here  be  remarked  that,  from  a  purely 
scientific  point  of  view,  the  idea  that  aristocratic 
blood  is  superior  to  plebeian,  though  now  a  good  deal 
exploded  and  jeered  at,  is  in  one  way  not  so  entirely 
erroneous.  It  used  to  be  an  accepted  adage  in  the 
Navy  that  in  expeditions  involving  much  trying 
exposure  and  hardship  the  men  always  succumbed 
before  the  officers,  while  in  journeys  to  high  latitudes 
the  latter,  nine  times  out  of  ten,  had  to  drag  the 
former  back.  Numberless  and  convincing  instances 
of  the  constitutional  superiority  of  the  individual  of 
gentle  blood  over  his  fellows  of  lowly  birth  could  be 
given.  It  is,  indeed,  almost  a  law  of  nature  that  the 
gentleman  survives  where  the  plebeian  dies. 

The  reason,  quite  unromantic,  is   after  all  simple, 


14      FANCIES,   FASHIONS,   AND   FADS 

the  whole  thing  being  merely  a  question  of  feeding 
and  care  in  early  years. 

For  a  good  many  generations  the  child  of  gentle 
birth  has  had  an  abundance  of  suitable  food.  For 
countless  generations  the  children  of  the  poor  have 
been  either  very  badly  nurtured  or  given  the  wrong 
kind  of  nourishment.  What  wonder,  then,  that  the 
aristocratic  constitution,  well  fortified  in  early  youth, 
should  be  vastly  superior  to  that  of  the  majority  of 
the  proletariat,  in  whom  the  lamp  of  life,  during 
childhood,  has  been  kept  alight  by  a  very  poor  or 
unsuitable  kind  of  oil?  In  addition  to  this,  the  upper 
classes  usually  have  some  fairly  sound  ideas  as 
to  the  treatment  of  infantile  maladies.  The  lower 
classes,  on  the  other  hand,  though  things  perhaps  are 
now  a  little  better  than  they  were,  have  always  been, 
and  to  a  great  extent  are  still,  permeated  by  mediaeval 
ideas  as  to  medical  treatment,  the  administration  of 
medicines,  and  the  dangerous  effects  of  fresh  air,  the 
result  being  that  their  offspring  are  often  at  a  dis- 
advantage in  fighting  against  even  trifling  ailments. 

Besides  a  certain  physical  superiority  resulting  from 
suitable  environment  and  from  a  healthy  life — for 
great  landowners  in  old  days  passed  much  of  their 
time  on  their  estates — education  and  training  imbued 
the  heir  to  great  possessions  with  the  conviction  that 
as  a  superior  kind  of  being  there  were  certain  things 
which  he  must  on  no  account  do. 

There  can  be  no  doubt  that  in  the  majority  of 
instances  the  result  was  a  strength  of  character  sadly 
wanting  in  the  aristocracy  of  the  present  day. 


SOMETHING  FOR  NOTHING          15 

The  old  English  gentleman  was,  as  a  rule,  honour- 
able and,  according  to  the  traditions  of  his  caste,  just, 
his  main  fault  having  been  a  lack  of  that  flexibility 
of  mind  which  is  unfortunately  too  superabundant  in 
the  modern  patrician.  Though  the  innate  pride  of 
birth  which  distinguished  the  old  English  aristocracy 
is  now  but  a  thing  of  the  past  and  to-day  merely  a 
matter  for  wonder  and  amusement,  I  think  that  from 
a  business-like  point  of  view  its  disappearance  has 
been  a  very  great  misfortune  to  the  so-called  upper 
classes,  who,  if  they  had  kept  abreast  of  the  times 
and  retained  the  acquisitive  and  shrewd  mentality  of 
their  forefathers,  would  have  exploited  it  to  good 
advantage  even  under  the  altered  circumstances  of 
to-day. 

Instead  of  rushing  with  open  arms  to  welcome 
wealthy  people  of  no  matter  what  origin  as  they 
emerged  from  the  slums,  they  should  have  remained 
as  judiciously  exclusive  as  possible,  by  which  means 
they  would  have  kept  a  good  deal  of  power,  while 
acquiring  wealth  on  far  better  terms  than  those  they 
have  sunk  to  accepting  to-day.  It  was  their  women 
who  began  the  degringolade,  imbued  as  they  were 
with  the  feminine  idea  that  it  was  possible  to 
get  something  for  nothing ;  they  could  not  resist 
the  comparatively  trifling  gifts  and  ostentatious 
hospitality  of  the  new  millionaires,  for  which  in  the 
long  run  the  aristocracy  has  had  to  pay  such  a 
heavy  price. 

Great  discredit  has  also  been  brought  upon  what 
used  to  be  recognized  as  the  ruling  class  by  the  lavish 


16      FANCIES,   FASHIONS,  AND   FADS 

bestowal  of  titles  upon  wealthy  nobodies.  We  can 
still  re-echo  the  words  of  Tom  Moore  : 

"  Tis  pleasant,  while  nothing  but  mercantile  fractures, 
Some  simple,  some  compound,  is  dinned  in  our   ears, 
To  think  that,   though  robbed  of  all  coarse  manufactures, 
We  keep  up  our  fine  manufacture  of  peers." 

Not  a  few  wealthy  men  are  quite  shameless  in  the 
methods  they  adopt  to  obtain  a  peerage,  and  the 
coterie  which  considers  itself  Society  considers  this 
sort  of  thing  quite  legitimate. 

Some  little  time  ago  I  was  discussing  a  certain 
Radical  who  recently  received  a  baronetcy  with  some 
friends  who  are  by  way  of  being  stanch  Conserva- 
tives. I  said  that  the  way  this  individual,  a  member 
of  Parliament,  wealthy  and  of  good  family,  went  about 
preaching  the  most  advanced  Radicalism  and  sup- 
porting all  sorts  of  canting  measures  which  in  private 
life  he  was  known  to  laugh  at,  was  contemptible.  I 
was  told  that  I  was  both  silly  and  unkind.  "  Everyone 

knows,"  said  they,  "that  Sir  (such  a  charming 

man,  and  his  wife  so  nice  too !)  is  really  not  a  Radical 
at  all,  but  only  anxious  to  get  a  peerage.  As  you  know, 
he  is  already  well  on  the  way  towards  one  ;  when  he 
reaches  the  House  of  Lords  all  that  nonsense  he  talks 
about  his  love  of  the  people  will  be  put  aside." 

In  plain  words,  this  man's  life  is  passed  in  bambooz- 
ling various  constituencies  (for,  one  or  two  having 
found  him  out,  he  has  had  to  change  his  seat)  in  order 
ultimately  to  obtain  a  seat  in  that  House  of  Lords 
which  he  devotes  so  much  energy  to  abusing. 


THE   PEERAGE  17 

Anything  more  disgraceful  from  an  honest  point  of 
view  it  is  impossible  to  conceive. 

Peerages  were  originally  never  intended  to  be 
conferred  upon  wealthy  manufacturers  who  have 
made  their  money  by  getting  other  people  to  work 
for  them  on  the  cheapest  possible  terms.  On  the 
other  hand,  though  austere  Radicalism  may  hold  up 
its  hands  in  horror,  it  was  certainly  recognized  in 
ancient  days  that  a  king  should  ennoble  such  of  his 
illegitimate  offspring  as  he  chose.  Taking  the  whole 
system  of  European  aristocracy  as  it  then  existed,  it 
would  have  been  very  strange  had  any  other  idea 
prevailed.  Approve  or  not,  everyone  with  the 
slightest  tinge  of  romance  thinks  sympathetically  of 
the  grandes  amoureses  who  beguiled  the  monarchs  of 
the  past.  On  the  whole,  with,  of  course,  the  excep- 
tion of  the  hateful  old  Maintenon,  whose  cruel  bigotry 
caused  Louis  XIV  to  drive  the  clever,  hardworking 
Huguenots  out  of  France,  I  do  not  believe  they  did 
as  much  harm  as  our  jabbering,  self-seeking,  meddling 
politicians  do  in  the  modern  world.  Thank  goodness, 
not  one  of  the  latter  seems  likely  to  be  remembered 
as  sympathetically  as  Nell  Gwyn,  the  pretty  Hereford 
lass,  who,  from  selling  oranges  at  the  theatre,  rose  to 
be  not  merely  the  favourite  actress  of  the  time,  but 
the  mother  of  a  duke  and  the  ancestress  of  a  bishop. 

Personally,  I  prefer  peers  descended  from  pretty 
girls  and  Stuart  Kings  to  some  of  our  newly  manu- 
factured ones,  whose  forbears  went  about  dabbling 
in  minor  industries  of  a  dubious  nature  associated 
with  the  basement. 


18      FANCIES,   FASHIONS,   AND   FADS 

For  some  reason  or  other,  probably  atavism,  there 
is  a  tendency  for  the  sons  of  millionaires  sprung  from 
the  gutter  to  be  particularly  uncouth  and  unpresent- 
able. Before  a  peerage  is  conferred  it  is  now,  indeed, 
usual  for  some  one  in  a  responsible  position  to  have 
a  good  look  at  the  prospective  peer's  sons. 

A  remark  made  by  the  chauffeur  of  one  of  our  new 
nobility  proves  what  a  necessary  precaution  this  is. 
His  master,  who  had  bought  a  fine  property  in  the 
West  of  England,  had,  after  the  manner  of  his  kind, 
made  himself  thoroughly  unpopular  with  his  neigh- 
bours. Though  a  Radical,  he  was  more  particular 
about  anyone  coming  on  to  his  land  than  any  of  the 
wicked  Tory  landowners  of  the  past  had  ever  been. 
So  far  did  he  carry  his  selfishness  that  for  the  first 
time  for  a  long  number  of  years  the  Yeomanry  were 
not  allowed  to  camp  in  his  park. 

What  wonder  that  the  newly  made  peer  was  re- 
garded with  contempt  and  dislike  by  almost  everyone 
in  his  neighbourhood. 

The  chauffeur  one  day  discussing  this  unpopularity 
with  a  friend,  however,  defended  his  master,  against 
whom  he  had  little  reason  for  complaint. 

"  I  tell  you,"  said  he,  "  they  may  say  what  they  like: 
the  old  man  ain't  so  bad,  but,  by  Jingo,  you  should 
see  our  eldest  son  !  " 

"  He  is  so  rich  ! "  is  often  heard  as  an  apology  for 
the  bestowal  of  some  particular  undeserved  honour. 
Why  in  these  professedly  democratic  days  mere  wealth 
alone  should  entitle  an  individual  to  have  a  voice  in 
legislating  for  his  less  fortunate  fellow-creatures, 


THE   OLD   SCHOOL  19 

nobody  is  quite  able  to  explain.  The  result  of  all 
this  is  that  while  the  aristocracy,  as  a  class,  is  as  rich 
or  richer  than  it  ever  was,  its  prestige,  most  precious 
possession  of  all,  except  amongst  Jew  millionaires  and 
American  snobs  (who,  having  purchased  the  stock, 
naturally  dread  a  slump),  has  passed  almost  completely 
away.  The  people  of  England,  a  large  number  of 
whom,  I  am  glad  to  say,  retain  the  straightforward 
non-toadying  spirit  which  distinguished  the  fine  old 
English  of  the  past,  laugh  at  it,  and  well  they  may. 

The  old-fashioned  aristocrat,  proud,  narrow,  but 
with  well-defined  principles  and  an  innate  conviction 
that  he  was  in  some  vague  way  responsible  for  the 
well-being  of  England,  was  to  many  a  sort  of  superior 
being,  not  quite  of  the  same  kind  as  the  people  they 
saw  every  day.  His  vices  and  failings — generally 
of  what  has  been  somewhat  snobbishly  termed  an 
aristocratic  kind — were  not  blazoned  abroad,  while,  to 
do  him  justice,  he  was  quite  prepared  to  incur  any 
amount  of  trouble  or  inconvenience  in  order  to  fulfil 
such  duties  as  his  class  were  expected  to  perform. 
His  pride,  though  often  great,  was  never  blatant  or 
vulgar — with  many,  indeed,  it  was  a  sort  of  second 
nature.  The  real  old-fashioned  aristocrat,  indeed, 
never  for  a  second  doubted  that  he  represented  a 
class  which  was  the  very  salt  of  the  earth.  Just,  and 
not  unkindly,  he  held  very  strong  views  as  to  the 
necessity  for  keeping  himself  rather  aloof  from  his 
social  inferiors,  whose  lot  in  life  was  not  to  push  them- 
selves forward,  but  to  do  their  duty  in  that  state  of  life 
to  which  it  had  pleased  God  to  call  them. 


20      FANCIES,   FASHIONS,   AND   FADS 

He  expected  respect  and  often  inspired  it,  for,  with 
all  his  faults,  there  is  no  doubt  he  was  a  valuable 
national  asset.  Unlike  the  modern  peer,  he  had  no 
idea  of  assuming  a  defensive  "  I  am  not  so  bad  after 
all  "  attitude.  Providence  had  placed  him  above  other 
men,  and  that  was  enough. 

This  system  of  a  privileged  class,  while  probably 
better  suited  to  the  needs  of  old-fashioned  England 
than  people  of  to-day  are  prepared  to  admit,  was, 
of  course,  accompanied  by  certain  abuses  which  ac- 
cording to  modern  ideas  were  quite  indefensible. 

Wealthy  noblemen,  unless  they  took  an  interest  in 
politics,  served  the  State  or  went  into  the  Army  or 
Navy ;  they  were  virtually  excluded  from  following 
any  profession.  It  was  tacitly  understood  that  men 
of  their  class,  provided  they  committed  no  real  crime, 
were  quite  entitled  to  lead  any  sort  of  life  they  liked, 
but  they  could  not  go  into  trade,  which  was  then 
taboo  to  a  man  of  gentle  blood. 

The  latter  idea,  one  of  the  most  absurd  which  ever 
existed,  made  loafers  of  numbers  of  well-born  younger 
sons,  who,  owing  to  their  ancestry,  found  themselves 
obliged  either  to  live  upon  sinecures  or  upon  their 
relatives. 

The  bad  old  system  by  which  men  of  good  family 
received  handsome  salaries,  not  for  doing  anything, 
but  for  being  the  sons  of  their  respective  fathers,  up 
to  the  end  of  the  eighteenth  century  existed  in  pro- 
fusion— not  only  in  England  but  all  over  Europe. 

Under  the  old  French  monarchy  all  offices  were 
sold,  and  the  great  nobility,  being  for  many  ages  the 


SINECURES  21 

only  opulent  persons  in  the  kingdom,  enjoyed  a 
monopoly  of  all  places  of  trust  and  emolument.  For 
a  time  they  did  very  well.  Gradually  commerce  and 
industry  creating  and  bringing  together  the  materials 
of  luxury,  the  nobles  were  tempted  to  exhaust  their 
fortunes  in  procuring  personal  enjoyments,  by  which 
means  they  became  gradually  impoverished.  They 
were  consequently  unable  to  purchase  places  at  Court, 
which  passed,  therefore,  into  the  hands  of  the  middle 
classes,  who  rose  in  wealth  as  the  aristocracy  declined. 
This  was  the  first  step  towards  the  events  of  1789. 

In  England,  though  things  never  reached  such  a 
bad  pitch,  numbers  of  the  aristocracy  lived  upon  the 
State.  A  member  of  one  noble  family,  for  instance, 
was  Secretary  of  the  Council,  Remembrancer  of  the 
Court  of  Exchequer,  Clerk  of  Common  Pleas  in 
Barbados,  also  Registrar  in  Chancery,  and  Clerk  of 
the  Patents  in  Jamaica,  all  which  duties  were  of 
course  discharged  by  deputy  and  brought  their  for- 
tunate holder  an  annual  income  of  over  five  thousand 
a  year. 

The  Governorship  of  Virginia  was  in  the  eighteenth 
century  a  military  sinecure,  the  holder  of  which  could 
remain  in  London.  In  17 28  the  troubled  state  of  that 
province  would  no  longer  admit  of  a  non-resident 
Governor,  and  its  Assembly,  while  voting  the  salary, 
had  made  complaint  that  they  received  no  service  in 
return.  With  the  unanimous  consent  of  the  Cabinet 
the  Governor  of  the  day  was  informed  that  the  King 
must  call  upon  him  to  resign  his  post,  but  was  willing 
to  grant  him  an  adequate  pension  until  another 


22      FANCIES,   FASHIONS,   AND   FADS 

appointment   of  the   same  value   could  be  found  for 
him. 

Numbers  of  individuals  contrived  to  keep  their 
nests  well  feathered  by  drawing  money  from  an  ap- 
preciative country,  while  the  number  of  persons  of 
gentle  birth  who  managed  to  make  some  comfortable 
little  addition  to  their  income  by  means  of  Court 
appointments,  ornamental  colonelcies,  or  other  offices 
was  extremely  large. 

Very  shocking  all  this,  no  doubt,  but  as  matters 
stood  then  there  was  not  much  cause  for  surprise. 
As  a  matter  of  fact,  a  country  is,  of  course,  in  a  minor 
degree,  always  exploited  by  somebody.  Whether  a 
peer  or  a  democrat  takes  the  money  is  really  unim- 
portant, and  certainly  the  old-fashioned  peers  generally 
spent  the  money  obtained  by  sinecures  very  freely ; 
also  they  had  a  number  of  individuals — lesser  fleas — 
who  lived  upon  them. 

The  author  of  the  Greville  "  Memoirs  "  drew  ^500  as 
late  Naval  Officer  at  Demerara,  with  ,£2,000  more  as 
Clerk  of  the  Privy  Council,  and  with  yet  ^3,000  more 
as  Secretary  and  Clerk  of  the  Enrolments  at  Jamaica. 
Another  Charles  Greville  drew  £600  per  annum  as 
Comptroller  of  Cash  in  the  Excise  at  London,  ^600 
more  as  Receiver  of  Taxes  at  Nottingham,  ^350 
more  as  Secretary  of  the  Island  of  Tobago,  and 
yet  again  ^572  allowance  as  Naval  Officer  at 
Trinidad. 

About  the  best  example  of  a  first-class  holder  of 
sinecures,  however,  was  the  third  Marquis  of  Hertford 
—Thackeray's  Lord  Steyne.  No  doubt  in  a  great 


SEYMOUR   PLACES  23 

measure  owing  to  his  friendship  with  the  Prince 
Regent,  he  held  a  number  of  public  offices,  the  duties 
of  which  probably  troubled  him  little.  He  was 
Vice- Chamberlain,  Lord  Warden  of  the  Stannaries, 
Lord  Steward  and  Vice-Admiral  of  the  Duchy  of 
Cornwall,  Chief  Commissioner  of  the  Duchy,  and 
even  Recorder  of  Coventry  and  Bodmin  until  the 
reform  of  the  municipal  corporations. 

A  most  stinging  epigram  upon  the  sinecures  of 
this  nobleman  was  the  one  written  by  Tom  Moore ; 
it  purported  to  be  a  conversation  between  a  dowager 
and  her  maid  : 

" '  I  want  the  Court  Guide,'  said  my  lady,  '  to  look 
If  the  house,  Seymour  Place,  be  at  30  or  20 '; 
'  We've  lost  the  Court  Guide,  ma'am,  but  here's  the  Red  Book, 
Where  you'll  find,  I  dare  say,  Seymour  Places  in  plenty.' " 

In  those  days  there  was  much  truth  in  this  epigram. 
The  Seymours  figured  in  every  capacity,  from  am- 
bassadors to  wharfingers  and  from  serjeants-at-arms 
to  housekeepers. 

The  old-fashioned  peers,  if  they  enjoyed  large 
benefits,  were,  in  return,  generally  ready  to  give  their 
lives  for  their  country.  Many  met  their  death  on 
hard-fought  fields ;  many  more  cheerfully  faced  exile 
and  hard  knocks  in  search  of  reputation,  and  the 
majority  were  always  ready  for  any  rough  work. 
The  old  English  aristocracy  was  essentially  adven- 
turous and,  though  some  of  them  managed  to  get 
through  a  good  deal  of  public  money,  taking  one 
thing  with  another,  did  much  for  their  country. 


24      FANCIES,   FASHIONS,   AND   FADS 

Thirty  or  forty  years  ago,  when  younger  sons  of 
good  family  realized  the  absolute  necessity  for  doing 
something  to  make  money,  the  City  first  claimed  their 
attention,  and  since  then  a  gradually  increasing  crowd 
of  impoverished  young  fellows  of  good  family  have 
been  flocking  into  the  City  to  earn  a  livelihood  by 
commissions. 

While  the  aristocracy  has  now  long  ceased  to  despise 
trade,  it  is  remarkable  that  none  of  the  wealthier 
amongst  them  have  striven  to  assure  the  prosperity 
of  their  family  fortunes  by  themselves  founding- 
businesses.  Had  they  had  the  sense  to  emulate 
the  merchant  princes  of  the  Middle  Ages,  which 
many  might  have  done,  who  knows  but  that  they 
would  not  have  rehabilitated  their  class  ? 

Some  rich  peers,  more  farseeing  than  their  fellows, 
it  is  true,  have  invested  large  sums  in  Canada  and 
other  portions  of  that  Greater  Britain  beyond  the 
Seas  which,  in  the  future,  will  probably  enjoy  great 
prosperity,  but  such  enterprise  does  not  appeal  to 
the  majority,  who,  merely  groaning  at  the  increase 
of  taxation,  have  no  idea  of  marching  with  the 
times. 

As  for  the  considerable  class  of  younger  sons,  who 
have  no  regular  occupation  at  all,  they  strive  to  keep 
things  going  in  all  sorts  of  ways,  but  a  few  being 
none  too  particular  as  to  what  those  ways  may  be. 

"  I  don't  believe  in  noblesse  oblige,"  I  once  heard 
one  of  these  young  fellows  say ;  "  that's  all  gone  by 
the  board  now — you've  got  to  get  what  you  can." 

This    remark,    though    jokingly    said,    was    sadly 


OLD    BEAUX  25 

significant  of  the  mental  attitude  of  the  class  to  which 
the  speaker  belonged. 

A  noticeable  symptom  of  the  changed  habits  of 
the  last  two  generations  is  the  disappearance  of 
that  somewhat  worthless  type  who,  under  various 
names — buck,  dandy,  swell,  masher,  and  dude — was 
once  such  a  feature  of  West  End  life. 

His  nearest  equivalent  to-day,  I  suppose,  is  the 
democratic  "  Nut,"  who  slouches  along  where  erst- 
while stalked  the  patrician  beau. 

Except  from  a  picturesque  point  of  view  this 
disappearance  is  perhaps  scarcely  to  be  deplored. 
The  old  beaux  of  the  past  in  particular  would  be 
thoroughly  out  of  place  to-day.  Though  many  a  one 
had  fought  gallantly  for  his  country,  as  a  class  they 
were  for  the  most  part  somewhat  disreputable  and 
selfish  old  men.  There  were,  however,  exceptions 
who  were  charming. 

Such  a  one  was  the  late  Mr.  Mackenzie  Grieves, 
who  lived  mostly  in  Paris,  where  for  many  years  he  was 
a  leading  figure  in  everything  relating  to  the  French 
turf.  Highly  popular  and  respected,  his  memory 
is  kept  green  by  a  race  at  Longchamps  which  in 
his  honour  was  named  "  le  Prix  Mackenzie  Grieves." 
His  affability  to  everyone,  his  charm  of  manner 
and  immaculate  appearance  made  a  great  impression 
upon  my  boyish  mind.  Though  he  had  taken  up  his 
residence  in  Paris  and  paid  but  occasional  visits  to 
this  country,  he  remained  the  complete  and  perfect 
type  of  the  old-fashioned  English  gentleman.  As  a 
young  man  he  had  served  in  the  Life  Guards,  and 


26      FANCIES,   FASHIONS,   AND   FADS 

to  his  last  days  he  retained  much  of  the  smart  military 
bearing  which  was  such  a  characteristic  of  the  British 
officer  of  a  past  generation. 

Very  different  in  appearance,  manners,  and  ways, 
however,  were  most  of  the  old  beaux  who  lingered  on 
into  the  early  eighties  of  the  last  century.  I  can  just 
remember  some  of  these  padded  and  bewigged  old 
fellows  as  they  were  tottering  to  the  grave.  Some  of 
them  who  had  been  brave  soldiers  fought  as  gallantly 
against  the  ravages  of  Time  as  they  had  done  at 
Inkermann  and  Balaclava  for  their  Queen.  The  effect 
as  a  rule  was,  however,  pitiable.  As  is  now  sensibly 
recognized,  it  is  more  seemly  and  decent  for  a 
man  of  pleasure  after  a  vie  orageuse  to  view  life 
through  the  mellowing  medium  of  philosophy.  A 
sensible  man,  with  his  appetites  curbed  by  the  stern 
discipline  of  time,  provided  he  retains  the  faculty  of 
appreciating  humour,  can  lead  a  life  of  considerable 
happiness  and  calm. 

Such  an  idea  did  not,  however,  at  all  appeal  to  the 
majority  of  the  old  bucks,  devotees  of  Bacchus  and 
Silenus,  who  lingered  about  West  End  thoroughfares 
as  late  as  the  early  eighties.  Some  of  them,  known 
by  sight  to  many  Londoners,  had  almost  become 
institutions  of  the  town. 

They  ogled  and  occasionally  attempted  to  enter  into 
conversation  with  pretty  women  about  the  streets,  but 
I  do  not  think  much  harm  was  done.  True  virtue 
can  afford  to  laugh  at  fossilized  vice,  and  the  old 
wrecks  were  easily  sent  to  the  rightabout. 

While  the  morality  of  such  men  was  very  low,  they 


MERETRICIOUS    PLEASURE  27 

were  probably  at  heart  not  a  whit  worse  than  the  more 
restrained  and  more  careful  men  of  to-day. 

It  should  be  taken  into  account  that  up  to  the  early 
part  of  the  nineteenth  century  a  very  free  morality 
formed  a  great,  almost  the  principal,  part  of  the  life 
of  rich  Englishmen,  without  any  offence  being  given 
to  the  conscience  of  the  community.  Princes  took 
their  own  course  along  the  line  of  limitless  desires 
and  their  courtiers  followed.  Lord  Pembroke,  who 
was  well  known  for  his  elopement  with  Miss  Kitty 
Hunter,  was  universally  esteemed  as  an  "accom- 
plished nobleman "  ;  the  Earl  Bishop  of  Derry,  the 
Duke  of  Devonshire  who  died  in  1811,  Lord  Egre- 
mont,  Lord  Hertford,  and,  not  least,  Lord  Darlington, 
were  all,  to  use  the  phrase  of  Wraxall,  "well  known 
in  the  annals  of  meretricious  pleasure." 

Their  point  of  view  perhaps  was  best  expressed  by 
Renan  when  he  wrote  :  "  Le  monde,  dont  les  juge- 
ments  sont  rarement  tout  a  fait  faux,  voit  une  sorte  de 
ridicule  a  etre  vertueux  quand  on  n'y  est  pas  oblige" 
par  un  devoir  professionel.  Le  pretre,  ayant  pour 
e"tat  d'etre  chaste,  comme  le  soldat  d'etre  brave,  est, 
d'apres  ces  idees,  presque  le  seul  qui  puisse  sans 
ridicule  tenir  a  des  principes  sur  lesquels  la  morale 
et  la  mode  se  livrent  les  plus  Granges  combats." 

Be  this  as  it  may,  it  is  impossible  to  deny  that  in 
the  past  the  majority  of  public  men,  even  the  cleverest, 
were  prone  to  be  ardent  devotees  of  him  whom 
Buddha  called  the  Lord  of  Pleasure  and  the  God 
of  Death. 


II 

POLITICS 

THE  old-fashioned  idea  of  politics — at  least 
that  held  by  people  of  property — was  that 
by  a  sort  of  tacit  agreement  it  should  be  kept 
as  much  as  possible  a  game,  the  principal  players 
in  which  should  belong  to  some  of  the  great  titled 
houses,  strong  enough  to  move  about  the  rank  and 
file  of  their  respective  parties  like  pawns.  Never- 
theless there  was,  however,  more  independence  in 
the  House  of  Commons  then  than  exists  to-day, 
when  members  have  sunk  to  being  mere  voting- 
machines. 

The  sums  which  were  spent  by  wealthy  noblemen 
in  capturing  or  holding  seats  for  their  party  were 
often  enormous. 

To-day  peers  have  comparatively  little  influence 
in  politics,  and  the  sturdy  independent  Member  of 
Parliament  of  former  days  is  as  extinct  as  the  dodo. 
The  old  England  which  this  type  of  man  loved 
is  but  a  memory.  As  a  matter  of  fact  it  vanished 
years  ago. 

"  Avec  Lord  Londonderry  [Lord  Castlereagh]," 
wrote  Chateaubriand,  "expira  la  vieille  Angleterre, 


A   GLOOMY    FORECAST  29 

jusqu'alors  se  d^battant  au  milieu  des  innovations 
croissantes.  Survint  M.  Canning  :  1'amour-propre 
1'emporta  jusqu'a  parler  a  la  tribune  la  langue  du 
propagandiste.  Apres  lui  parut  le  Due  de  Welling- 
ton, conservateur  qui  venait  demolir :  quand  1'arret 
des  societe"s  est  prononce",  la  main  qui  devait  elever 
ne  sait  qu'abattre.  Lord  Grey,  O'Connell,  tous  ces 
ouvriers  en  ruines,  travaillerent  successivement  a  la 
chute  des  vieilles  institutions.  ReTorme  parlemen- 
taire,  emancipation  de  1'Irlande,  toutes  choses  excel- 
lentes  en  soi,  devinrent,  par  1'insalubrite  des  temps, 
des  causes  de  destruction.  .  .  . 

"  Lord  Liverpool  avait  lui-meme  de  tristes 
pressentiments.  Je  dinais  un  jour  chez  lui  :  apres 
le  repas  nous  causames  a  une  fenetre  qui  s'ouvrait 
sur  la  Tamise ;  on  apercevait  en  avance  de  la  riviere 
une  partie  de  la  cite"  dont  le  brouillard  et  la  fume'e 
elargissaient  la  masse.  Je  faisais  a  mon  hote  1'eloge 
de  la  solidite  de  cette  monarchic  anglaise  pondere"e 
par  le  balancement  egal  de  la  liberte*  et  du  pouvoir. 
Le  venerable  lord,  levant  et  allongeant  le  bras,  me 
montra  de  la  main  la  cite"  et  me  dit :  *  Qu'y  a-t-il 
de  solide  avec  ces  villes  e'normes  ?  Une  insurrection 
serieuse  a  Londres,  et  tout  est  perdu.'  " 

This  gloomy  forecast,  happily,  has  not  yet  been 
realized.  At  the  same  time  disquieting  symptoms  of 
unrest  were  not  wanting  during  the  great  railway 
strike. 

Agitators  abound,  and  slippery-minded  politicians 
do  not  scruple  to  make  speeches  intended  to  inflame 
the  lower  class  against  the  upper. 


30      FANCIES,   FASHIONS,   AND   FADS 

I  have  heard  this  defended  on  the  plea  that  in 
order  to  obtain  the  necessary  driving  force  for  social 
legislation  enthusiasm  and  excitement  are  indis- 
pensable. 

Moderate  men  who  sanction  such  dangerous 
methods  should  remember  the  words  of  the  old 
coloured  preacher,  descanting  upon  the  difficulties 
of  the  sinner: 

"  My  brudrin,"  said  he,  "  it  am  easy  to  row  a 
boat  ober  Niagary  Falls,  but  a  tremenjus  job  to  row 
it  back  again." 

With  the  insincerity  which,  unhappily,  seems  the 
appanage  of  political  life,  a  number  of  public  men 
are  ready  to  abuse  anybody  or  anything  in  order 
to  pander  to  the  electorate.  To  pull  down  from 
above  is  easier  than  to  build  up  from  below. 

Curiously  enough,  some  of  those  who  are  the 
most  vehement  in  calling  for  equal  rights  for  all 
are  the  least  democratic  in  their  private  lives. 

Catherine  Macaulay,  who  wrote  a  "  History  of 
England  from  the  Accession  of  James  the  First  to 
the  Elevation  of  the  House  of  Hanover,"  in  the 
second  half  of  the  eighteenth  century,  had  Republican 
ideas  and  was  fiercely  democratic  in  her  writings. 
One  day  at  her  house  Dr.  Johnson  pretended  to  be 
a  convert  to  her  doctrines.  "  I  am  convinced,  like 
you,  madam,"  he  said,  "  that  all  mankind  ought  to 
be  upon  an  equal  footing,  and  to  give  you  an  un- 
mistakable proof,  madam,  that  I  am  in  earnest,  there 
is  a  very  sensible,  civil,  well-behaved  fellow-citizen, 
your  footman.  I  desire  that  he  may  be  allowed  to 


DOWN,   NOT  UP!  31 

sit  down  and  dine  with  us."  Catherine  Macaulay 
resented  the  suggestion.  "  I  showed  her  the 
absurdity  of  her  levelling  doctrines,"  said  the 
Doctor,  "and  she  has  never  liked  me  since.  Your 
levellers  wish  to  level  down  as  far  as  themselves, 
but  they  cannot  bear  levelling  up  to  themselves." 

When  all  is  said  and  done  it  must  be  admitted 
that,  considering  the  enormous  power  enjoyed  by 
the  upper  classes  before  the  passing  of  the  great 
Reform  Bill,  the  almost  unlimited  opportunities  they 
had  for  plunder  and  the  usual  effect  of  such  oppor- 
tunities upon  human  nature  of  no  matter  what  class, 
the  wonder  is  that  they  showed  so  much  moderation. 
In  return  for  steering  England  into  a  position  of 
commanding  power — risking  and  giving  their  lives 
freely  by  land  and  sea,  running  the  government  of 
the  country  admittedly  with  more  consideration 
and  fairness  to  the  humbler  classes  than  prevailed 
anywhere  else  in  Europe,  they  were,  according  to 
their  lights,  surely  entitled  to  see  that  their  younger 
sons  and  relatives  without  means  were  provided 
for  for  life.  I  believe  that  no  Radicals  or  Socialists 
of  the  present  day  would  have,  under  the  circum- 
stances, shown  such  self-restraint.  So-called 
democratic  government,  owing  to  what  seems  an 
almost  inevitable  tendency  of  popular  leaders  to 
make  money,  generally  proves  the  most  expensive 
of  all. 

The  business  of  government,  as  conducted  in  old 
days,  was  intimately  connected  with  a  number  of 
social  forms  and  usages  which  are  now  completely 


32      FANCIES,   FASHIONS,   AND   FADS 

obsolete.  Society  exercised  real  political  power, 
and  almost  every  politician  of  eminence,  more  or 
less,  bowed  to  its  decrees. 

Even  thirty-five  years  ago  distinguished  statesmen 
attached  serious  importance  to  social  ordinances,  and, 
following  the  example  of  their  predecessors,  dined  out 
and  gave  dinners  regularly.  A  prominent  public  man 
had  to  do  an  enormous  amount  of  dining-out. 
Lord  Beaconsfield's  doctors  were  of  opinion  that 
the  multitude  of  dinners  he  had  been  forced  to  attend 
shortened  his  life.  The  London  season  was  coincident 
with  the  Parliamentary  Session,  and  from  February 
to  July  the  dinner-parties  and  other  entertainments 
arranged  for  the  amusement  of  the  politicians  and 
their  belongings  exceeded  the  sum  of  those  given 
in  all  the  other  European  capitals  put  together.  A 
certain  amount  of  formality  still  prevailed.  Dinner- 
parties were  regarded  as  serious  functions,  and 
throwing  over  people  at  the  last  moment,  or  being 
late,  regarded  as  grave  breaches  of  good  manners. 
Occasionally,  Cabinet  Ministers  who  were  expected 
to  dinner  were  prevented  by  stress  of  Parlia- 
mentary business  from  putting  in  an  appearance, 
but  that  was  the  rare  exception  ;  and  in  a  general 
way  the  dinner-party  and  the  evening  reception 
were  institutions  not  less  stereotyped  and  sacred 
in  the  London  spring  and  summer  than  the  sittings 
of  both  Houses  of  Parliament.  In  short,  Politics  and 
Society  then  went  hand  in  hand.  I  do  not  know, 
however,  that  the  affairs  of  the  Empire  suffered  in 
consequence. 


CASTING   OF   NETS  33 

London  Society  as  at  that  time  constituted  was 
of  immense  service  to  the  Conservative  cause,  all 
sorts  of  useful  people  being  adroitly  drawn  into  its 
net,  a  process  which  was  greatly  assisted  by  the 
tactful  manoeuvres  of  a  certain  number  of  recognized 
hostesses,  the  like  of  whom  do  not  exist  to-day. 
The  Conservatives,  indeed,  may  be  said  to  have 
possessed  a  regular  social  organization  devoted  to 
forwarding  the  interests  of  the  party.  Many  ladies 
prominent  in  Society,  for  instance,  spared  no  effort 
to  make  the  wives  and  daughters  of  the  parvenus 
actually  in  Parliament  or  anxious  to  get  into  Par- 
liament, on  the  Tory  side,  at  home.  On  the  other 
hand,  the  wives  and  daughters  of  Liberal  M.P.'s 
on  the  same  social  level  were  neglected  or  cold- 
shouldered,  or  treated  only  with  frigid  and  con- 
ventional civility,  by  the  grandes  dames  of  Whiggism 
or  the  smart  ladies  of  Liberalism.  Consequently 
those  who  entered  political  life,  as  many  did,  at 
the  promptings  of  social  ambition  or  to  gratify  the 
ladies  of  their  family  could  count  upon  a  more 
definite  social  reward  by  joining  the  Conservatives, 
whose  ranks  were  thus  recruited  by  numerous  astute 
individuals.  The  hob-nobbing  between  men  of  the 
rival  parties  which  is  such  a  significant  and  none 
too  reassuring  feature  of  modern  English  social 
life  did  not  then  prevail.  A  real  antagonism  seemed 
to  exist  between  the  two  parties,  and  a  large  part 
of  the  conversation  at  Conservative  dinner-tables 
consisted  in  abuse  of  Mr.  Gladstone,  whom  numbers 
of  violent  people  regarded  as  a  kind  of  Beelzebub. 


34      FANCIES,  FASHIONS,   AND  FADS 

Modern  Tories  have  now  long  modified  their  views 
as  to  the  statesman  in  question.  Quite  a  number 
of  them,  indeed,  declare  that  Mr.  Gladstone  would 
have  opposed  certain  measures  passed  by  the  present 
Liberal  Government ;  nevertheless,  it  must  not  be 
forgotten  that  it  was  Mr.  Gladstone  who  paved  the 
way  for  what  has  occurred  since  his  time.  Though 
an  excessively  clever  man,  there  can  be  no  doubt 
that,  even  when  facts  were  against  him,  he  would 
never  admit  himself  to  be  wrong,  and  always 
cherished  the  comfortable  conviction  that  what  he 
did  or  what  he  abstained  from  doing  was  right. 
Imagination  he  strangely  lacked,  as  well  as  the 
faculty  of  making  allowances  for  race  or  climate, 
historical  antecedents,  national  peculiarities.  A 
striking  proof  of  this  is  the  behaviour  of  Mr. 
Gladstone's  "  interesting  nationalities  " — his  favourite 
Balkan  States — who  have  lately  been  so  busy 
cutting  one  another's  throats. 

His  impassioned  plea  for  the  simple-minded 
Christians  who  were  subjected  to  the  brutal  rule 
of  the  unspeakable  Turk,  and  his  horror  at 
"  Bulgarian  atrocities,"  roused  a  large  section  of 
England  to  a  state  of  outraged  indignation.  What, 
I  wonder,  would  he  say  to  the  well-authenticated  and 
horrible  atrocities  committed  not  on  but  by  his  pet 
Bulgarians  during  the  recent  war  ?  That  "  interesting 
nationality"  has  at  least  been  far  from  justifying  the 
faith  which  the  Grand  Old  Man  reposed  in  her. 
No  parallel,  it  is  said,  can  be  found  for  the  horrors 
committed  by  her  soldiers  in  and  about  Adrianople, 


AN   INTERESTING  NATIONALITY    35 

outraging,  killing,  and  burning  in  the  most  fiendish 
manner  wherever  they  went. 

When  the  Turks  reoccupied  the  town  Enver  Bey 
and  his  men  were  received  with  rapture  by  100,000 
inhabitants.  This  is  the  first,  time  in  history  that 
Europeans,  Greeks,  and  Armenians  have  received 
Moslems  with  open  arms  as  their  long-hoped-for 
protectors,  rending  the  air  with  their  shouts  of  joy. 

"Europeans  declared  that  they  would  rather  go 
through  a  whole  year  of  a  siege  with  shot  and  shell 
flying  about  than  endure  a  single  month  of  the 
Bulgarian  reign  of  terror. 

"  Not  a  single  one  of  the  Turkish  prisoners  survived. 
Certain  is  it  that  hundreds  of  fettered  Greeks  were 
every  day  dragged  through  the  city.  If  one  of  them 
just  bent  down  to  pick  up  a  scrap  of  food  from  the 
ground,  he  received  a  prod  from  a  bayonet,  and  dozens 
of  corpses  were  every  day  carried  off  the  two  or  three 
miles  of  road  from  Karagatsch  to  Adrianople  and 
hurled  into  the  rivers. 

"  The  ingenuity  Mr.  Gladstone's  favourites  put 
into  their  martyrdoms  of  the  poor  people  baffles 
description.  According  to  the  Press,  Turkish  women 
were  crucified,  and  before  the  breath  had  left  their 
bodies  carved  and  flayed — even  in  their  death-agonies 
they  were  not  safe  from  fresh  tortures.  Many  wells 
were  filled  to  the  brim  with  the  bodies  of  Turkish 
women,  and  many  others  were  poisoned  in  different 
ways. 

"  Robbery  and  extortion  ran  riot.  In  the  Mosque 
of  Selim  at  Adrianople  only  the  worthless  carpets 


36      FANCIES,   FASHIONS,   AND   FADS 

were  left,  and  even  these  had  pieces  cut  out  of  their 
corners  or  middles.  Bulgarian  officers  of  all  grades 
simply  stole  just  as  it  seemed  good  to  them.  When 
General  Christowitch  was  asked  by  a  European 
merchant  for  protection  against  the  robbers,  he 
replied  :  '  What  can  you  expect  ? — the  young  fellows, 
are,  after  all,  only  taking  away  mementoes.'  Which 
reply  gained  for  him  the  nickname  of  '  General 
Memento.' 

"  About  two  hundred  trainloads  of  goods  '  requisi- 
tioned '  from  Adrianople  steamed  back  to  Bulgaria. 
Pianos,  carpets,  curtains,  spoons,  forks,*  chairs,  tables 
— in  short,  everything  movable  was  carted  off.  If  a 
mob  of  the  invaders  came  across  anything  that  was 
not  worth  taking,  they  just  cut  it  in  pieces  or  burnt  it." 

The  results  of  the  emancipation  of  the  Balkan 
States  seem  to  have  had  anything  but  a  mollifying 
effect  upon  their  inhabitants. 

According  to  the  Press,  something  like  200,000 
non-combatants,  including  thousands  of  men  and 
children,  were  massacred  in  the  province  of  Thrace 
alone. 

This  historic  butchery,  it  should  be  thoroughly 
realized,  was  the  work  of  the  simple-minded  Christians 
whom  Radical  sentimentalists  have  persistently  held 
up  as  displaying  the  most  praiseworthy  and  for- 
giving fortitude  under  the  oppression  and  brutality 
of  the  wicked  Turk — but  then,  careful  examination 
of  facts  more  or  less  proves  that  sentimentalists  are 
always  wrong. 

For  Mr.  Gladstone,  with  his  sincere  but  exagge- 


A   GUARDED   FLAME  37 

rated  indignation  concerning  the  Bulgarian  atrocities 
of  the  past  (most  of  which  were  never  proved),  there 
was,  of  course,  a  great  excuse.  Native  Christians 
under  Mohammedan  rule  he  always  imagined  as  law- 
abiding,  religious  folk,  leading  much  the  same  kind 
of  orderly  life  as  his  own  villagers  at  Hawarden,  to 
whom  he  read  the  lessons  every  Sunday. 

His  knowledge  of  foreign  countries  was  of  necessity 
extremely  limited,  and  in  a  great  measure  gleaned 
from  informants  anxious  to  tell  him  what  he  wanted 
to  hear ;  his  whole  bent  of  mind  and  disposition 
resembled  that  of  a  very  cultured  ecclesiastic  rather 
than  that  of  a  practical  and  farseeing  statesman. 
During  his  latter  years,  at  least,  the  old  statesman — 
"a  guarded  flame,"  shielded  from  all  annoyance  by 
his  intimates — had  little  opportunity  of  learning  any 
unpleasant  truths.  Everything  of  a  nature  to  irritate 
or  annoy  him  was  kept  out  of  his  way ;  even  the 
daily  papers  were  subjected  to  a  kindly  censorship 
by  his  devoted  wife,  who  took  care  to  prevent  his 
attention  being  called  to  any  paragraphs  likely  to 
disturb  him.  One  result  of  this  was  that  he  went 
to  his  grave  believing  that  parliamentary  institu- 
tions and  representative  government  were  not  only 
the  supreme  end  at  which  to  aim,  but  the  regime 
to  which  all  nationalities  were  instinctively  capable 
of  adapting  themselves.  In  foreign  politics  his 
view  would  seem  to  have  been  that  every 
male  child  born  into  the  world,  whether  British  or 
Bulgarian,  Armenian  or  African,  Egyptian  or  Zulu, 
Aztec  or  Esquimaux,  was  capable  of  being  educated 


38      FANCIES,   FASHIONS,   AND   FADS 

into   a   free  and  independent  elector  for  an   English 
borough. 

Mr.  Gladstone,  largely  no  doubt  owing  to  his 
entourage  of  worshippers,  was  to  a  great  extent  self- 
centred.  Whether  at  heart  he  was  ever  really  a 
Radical  in  the  modern  acceptation  of  the  term  seems 
rather  doubtful.  Notwithstanding  a  blind  and  almost 
pathetic  belief  in  representative  institutions,  any  form 
of  government  which  might  have  declined  to  take  his 
own  views  into  account  would  have  aroused  his  wrath. 
Perhaps  the  most  Radical  characteristic  about  him 
was  a  love  of  unlimited  freedom  of  speech,  espe- 
cially for  himself.  He  might  have  been  said,  indeed, 
to  have  lived  in  an  agreeable  world  of  his  own,  in 
which  everything  he  said  or  did  was  in  the  nature 
of  things  right. 

How  can  a  man  whose  whole  life  is  passed  with  one 
particular  set  of  individuals,  who  always  agree  with  him, 
ever  have  the  slightest  conception  of  what  existence 
really  is  ?  Can  the  social  reformer  understand  why 
the  bar-lounger  cheerfully  leads  a  life  of  sodden 
inebriety,  or  can  the  racing-man  realize  that  even  the 
certainty  of  backing  several  really  good  things  has  no 
power  to  tempt  the  student  from  his  books  or  the 
scientist  from  his  laboratory? 

Byron  said  of  Napoleon  that  what  he  most  liked 
in  his  character  was  his  want  of  sympathy,  which 
proved  his  knowledge  of  man,  as  those  only  could 
possess  sympathy  who  were  in  happy  ignorance  of 
human  nature.  Unlimited  sympathy  with  suffering 
humanity,  which  was  a  peculiar  characteristic  of  Mr. 


A   SOPHISTICAL   RHETORICIAN      39 

Gladstone,  undoubtedly  warped  his  judgment  and  dis- 
torted his  sense  of  proportion.  Notwithstanding  all 
his  wonderful  intellectual  gifts,  there  was  ever  a  certain 
ingenuousness  about  some  of  the  great  statesman's 
ideas.  I  believe  that  he  once  in  print  actually  advo- 
cated a  line  of  rail  running  all  round  the  English  coast- 
line as  being  the  best  form  of  national  defence,  because 
artillery  could  thus  be  easily  moved  from  point  to 
point ! 

About  the  real  characteristics  and  failings  of  the 
world  in  general  he  was  very  hazy  indeed.  The  intense 
insularity  of  his  point  of  view  occasionally  rather 
inclines  one  to  doubt  whether  Mr.  Gladstone  was  a 
great  statesman  at  all ;  at  any  rate,  his  widespread 
sympathy  with  nationalities,  especially  small  ones, 
about  which  he  was  in  reality  profoundly  ignorant, 
causes  him  to  be  almost  better  remembered  outside 
England  than  at  home,  where  his  memory  is,  perhaps, 
not  as  green  as  his  commanding  intellect  and  fine 
character  deserved  it  to  be.  Probably,  as  a  new  and 
clever  writer  (Mr.  Esme  Wingfield  Stratford)  has 
recently  declared,  it  was  a  certain  incoherence  and 
lack  of  backbone  which  has  consigned  nearly  every- 
thing that  Mr.  Gladstone  ever  wrote  or  spoke  to 
oblivion.  Definite  principle  or  a  coherent  system  of 
thought  seems  to  have  been  positively  repugnant  to 
this  great  statesman,  whom  his  rival  once  not  inaptly 
dubbed  "a  sophistical  rhetorician."  Like  the  modern 
Japanese,  he  got  his  theories  and  ideas  from  widely 
different  sources — his  theology  from  Oxford,  political 
economy  from  Liverpool,  his  love  of  liberty  from 


40      FANCIES,   FASHIONS,   AND   FADS 

Naples.  To  sustain  any  pet  contention  he  was  apt 
to  draw  support  from  books.  A  fine  scholar,  few 
have  ever  known  so  much  about  them  as  he  did. 
There  was,  however,  one  important  exception — the 
Book  of  Life. 

If  Mr.  Gladstone  is  not  sufficiently  remembered  by 
a  new  generation,  no  man  received  more  appreciation 
than  he  during  his  lifetime.  Not  infrequently  his 
admirers,  indeed,  attributed  to  his  influence  reforms  and 
innovations  which  had  never  been  carried  out  at  all. 

Going  into  a  village  shop  one  day,  I  happened  to 
embark  upon  a  chat  with  its  proprietor  as  to  the  merits 
and  demerits  of  the  Grand  Old  Man,  who  had  just 
made  a  speech  which  had  attracted  great  attention. 
"  Well,  sir,"  said  this  tradesman,  a  note  of  warm  admi- 
ration in  his  voice,  "  whatever  people  may  say  against 
Mr.  Gladstone,  I  for  my  part  can  never  forget  that  he 
gave  England  'one  man  one  vote.'  " 

I  thought  it  useless  to  point  out  that  this  was 
exactly  what  Mr.  Gladstone  had  never  brought  about, 
and  passed  on  to  topics  of  a  less  controversial 
nature. 

One  great  merit  Lord  Beaconsfield's  rival 
undoubtedly  had  to  which  full  justice  has  never 
been  done.  He  was  not  a  sentimentalist  in  a  hurry  ; 
that  is  to  say,  he  was  not  ready  to  crush  out  personal 
liberty  in  order  to  redress  some  vague  grievance 
without  thoroughly  going  into  the  pros  and  cons  of 
the  matter.  I  fancy  that  a  good  deal  of  our  latter- 
day  humanitarian  legislation  would  have  been  little 
to  his  taste.  At  the  same  time,  in  international 


COMMON   SENSE  41 

matters,  Mr.  Gladstone  certainly  represented 
uncalculating  and  over-enthusiastic  altruism,  just 
as  the  late  Duke  of  Devonshire  represented  that 
scarce  and  precious  attribute — in  these  days,  alas!  so 
rarely  to  be  found — "  ordinary  common  sense."  It 
was  for  this  reason  that  when  the  latter  was  Lord 
Hartington,  he  possessed  such  overwhelming 
influence  in  the  House  of  Commons.  Though 
nominally  a  Liberal,  the  Duke  had  all  the 
characteristics  of  his  class,  including  a  somewhat 
cynical  contempt  for  his  social  inferiors,  whether 
Radicals  or  Conservatives.  It  is  said  that,  being 
once  asked  whether  political  demonstrations  ought 
not  to  be  forbidden  in  Hyde  Park  on  Sundays,  he 
replied,  with  a  characteristic  sneer,  which  had  in  it 
nothing  that  was  affected,  offensive,  or  insincere, 
that  he  could  not  for  the  life  of  him  see  why,  if  you 
were  to  admit  a  well-dressed  mob  into  the  "Park  on 
week-days,  you  should  exclude  from  it  a  less  well- 
dressed  mob  on  the  Sabbath.  From  this  utterance 
it  may  be  gathered  that  he  was  somewhat  con- 
temptuous of  humanity  in  the  mass,  which  in  reality 
merely  proves  that  he  was  a  true  aristocrat ;  for  if 
vulgarity  is  merely  a  form  of  sympathy  with  the 
greatest  number,  it  is  equally  true  that  sympathy 
with  the  greatest  number  is  merely  a  form  of 
vulgarity. 

In  these  days  when  (in  the  writer's  opinion  largely 
by  reason  of  their  own  ineptitude,  slackness,  and 
lack  of  intelligence)  peers  have  come  to  be  of  small 
account,  the  old  conception  of  a  great  English 


42      FANCIES,   FASHIONS,   AND   FADS 

aristocrat  has  almost  ceased  to  be  remembered. 
The  old-fashioned  nobleman  of  other  days  was  a 
type  apart.  Frigidity  and  hauteur  were  often  his 
characteristics,  but,  unpleasant  as  these  qualities 
usually  are,  there  was  something  so  high-bred  about 
many  of  the  stiff  old  peers  that  much  could  be 
forgiven.  Many  a  one,  after  passing  through  a 
period  agitated  by  wild  indiscretions,  seemed  to  have 
bidden  a  last  farewell  to  folly,  and,  as  it  were,  frozen 
into  the  exemplar  of  an  immaculate,  unemotional, 
self-possessed  British  nobleman.  A  curious  charac- 
teristic of  not  a  few  of  this  class  who  had  been  dandies 
in  their  youth  was  their  apparent  contempt  for 
clothes  ;  the  love  of  some  of  them  for  ancient  raiment 
was  remarkable.  The  late  Duke  of  Devonshire 
almost  exactly  realized  this  conception.  True  to 
the  type,  after  a  joyous  youth  he  became  the  very 
incarnation  of  British  stolidity.  His  whole  attitude 
latterly  was  one  of  detachment  from  all  mundane 
things ;  and  though  he  continued  to  go  out  a  good 
deal  he  generally  seemed  to  be  bored.  Assemblages 
of  his  fellow-creatures,  of  no  matter  what  kind, 
appealed  to  him  but  little.  It  was  once  shrewdly 
said  that  the  Duke's  attitude  towards  society  was 
rather  that  of  a  man  reconciled  to  it  than  anything 
else.  He,  as  it  were,  acquiesced  in  it,  even  as  he 
acquiesced  in,  and  was  reconciled  to,  the  politicians 
with  whom  he  had  cast  in  his  lot,  the  exalted  station 
to  which  he  had  been  born,  and  the  dukedom  which 
he  undoubtedly  adorned.  Nevertheless,  his  manner 
remained  suggestive  of  a  semi-contemptuous  protest 


IN   WOEFUL   PLIGHT  43 

against  politics,  society,  the  House  of  Commons,  the 
House  of  Lords,  and  everything  else. 

He  put  up  with  them  all,  however,  and  his  absolute 
integrity  and  detachment  from  self-interest,  together 
with  his  great  common  sense,  gave  him  a  unique 
position  as  a  man  to  be  looked  up  to  and  trusted. 
This  being  so,  it  was  no  wonder  that  even  in  his 
latter  years,  when  he  had  become  a  Liberal- Unionist, 
the  Duke  remained  a  tower  of  strength  to  his  party, 
which  at  the  present  time,  notwithstanding  having 
had  numberless  opportunities  (missed),  is  in  such 
woeful  plight.  Considering,  indeed,  the  chances  which 
the  Conservatives  have  let  slip,  it  would  seem  as  if 
they  did  not  really  wish  to  come  in  at  all.  For  years 
their  main  idea  has  apparently  been  merely  to  abuse 
their  opponents  for  remaining  in  office  and  to  shrink 
from  taking  their  place.  The  main  Conservative 
characteristic  since  the  death  of  Lord  Beaconsfield 
has  been  to  show  complete  lack  of  courage.  Their 
pitiable  tactics  deceive  no  one,  not  even  King  Demos, 
with  whom  they  are  always  seeking  to  outbid  their 
opponents.  Luck  has  also  deserted  them.  As  a 
matter  of  fact,  it  was  quite  by  accident  that  Disraeli, 
a  man  of  commanding  genius,  found  himself  at  the 
head  of  the  Conservative  party,  for  at  heart  he  was 
probably  not  more  of  a  Conservative  than  he  was 
anything  else. 

The  career  of  this  really  great  man  is  one  of  the 
most  extraordinary  in  our  political  history.  No  one 
could  have  started  with  greater  odds  against  him  than 
the  author  of  "Lothair."  To  begin  with,  his  descent 


44      FANCIES,   FASHIONS,   AND   FADS 

put  him  at  a  considerable  disadvantage,  though  of 
course  the  stock  he  came  from  was  of  a  totally  differ- 
ent kind  from  that  which  has  produced  so  many  of 
our  modern  Hebrew  millionaires.  Disraeli  sprang 
from  the  aristocratic  section  of  the  Jews,  which  has 
given  the  world  many  a  fine  and  lofty  intellect.  He 
had,  moreover,  none  of  the  less  edifying  qualities  of 
his  race.  He  entirely  lacked  the  Semitic  instinct  for 
accumulating  wealth,  and  as  a  young  man  was  so 
careless  about  money  that  during  a  great  portion  of 
his  life  he  was  worried  to  death.  Though  never  a 
rich  man,  his  generosity  was  sometimes  quite  quixotic. 

Happening  to  be  taken  ill  while  staying  at  a 
country  house,  the  local  doctor  was  sent  for  and  came 
twice.  On  his  return  to  London,  Lord  Beaconsfield's 
secretary,  having  reminded  his  chief  of  the  fee,  was 
told  to  send  the  practitioner  ten  guineas.  "  I  dare  say 
he  doesn't  get  much  practice  down  in  the  country— 
I  should  like  to  do  him  a  little  good,"  was  the  old 
Tory  leader's  kindly  remark. 

The  acceptance  of  Lord  Beaconsfield's  leadership 
by  the  real  English  aristocracy  was  the  more  remark- 
able insomuch  as  he  had  not  received  the  training 
which  was  then  considered  almost  indispensable  to  an 
English  statesman.  Old  Isaac  Disraeli  had  not  given 
him  what  is  usually  understood  by  the  term  "  a  liberal 
education  "  ;  and  his  son  was  never  reared  in  the  Eton 
and  Oxford  of  his  favourite  heroes,  but  was  taken 
from  the  suburban  academy,  in  which  he  had  mastered 
some  of  the  elements  of  learning,  to  be  articled  in  the 
office  of  a  metropolitan  attorney. 


LORD   BEACONSFIELD  45 

When  the  young  Disraeli  first  entered  politics  his 
somewhat  flamboyant  style  of  dress  must  have  pre- 
judiced many  people  against  him.  His  appearance 
and  dandified  air  in  the  early  days  have  often  been 
described.  His  ringlets  of  silken  black  hair,  his  coat 
of  black  velvet  lined  with  white  satin,  his  white  kid 
gloves,  his  ivory  cane,  of  which  the  handle,  inlaid 
with  gold,  was  relieved  by  more  black  silk,  in  the 
shape  of  a  tassel,  must  have  all  counted  to  his  disad- 
vantage. 

Gradually,  as  the  years  crept  on,  all  of  these  frip- 
peries were  abandoned,  and  when  as  a  boy  he  shook 
hands  with  me  for  the  last  time  in  my  mother's 
drawing-room,  where  he  was  such  a  frequent  visitor, 
he  wore,  I  remember,  the  most  shocking  overcoat 
possible,  and  was  altogether  very  shabbily  dressed. 

I  shall  never  forget  the  old  statesman's  sphinx-like 
look  and  his  half-closed  eyes  as  he  sat  huddled  up  in 
a  little  chair.  There  was  something  fascinating  about 
him,  and  one  felt  that  he  was  some  one  entirely 
different  from  ordinary  men. 

A  real  political  leader,  if  ever  there  was  one,  Lord 
Beaconsfield,  at  a  time  when  the  Conservative  party 
possessed  a  far  greater  number  of  shrewd  and  virile 
captains  than  it  does  to-day,  absolutely  dominated 
his  party,  not  by  overbearing  methods  or  temper,  but 
by  tact. 

Those  who  worked  with  him  like  his  intimate 
friends,  still  cherish  his  memory  with  the  warmest 
affection.  My  cousin  (Lord  Abergavenny),  indeed, 
only  a  short  time  ago,  speaking  to  me  of  his  dear 


46      FANCIES,   FASHIONS,  AND   FADS 

Dizzy,  said  :  "  Ah  !  there  was  the  most  charming  man 
to  work  with  I  ever  knew.  If  he  disagreed  with  you, 
he  put  things  so  nicely  that  you  could  not  be  annoyed. 
He  was  the  most  tolerant  and  most  pleasant  of  men." 
I  have  always  heard  the  same  story  from  people,  and 
I  have  known  a  good  number,  who  were  in  close 
touch  with  the  great  statesman.  The  lapse  of  years 
since  his  death  has  not  shaken  his  admirers  in  their 
ardent  enthusiasm  for  their  lost  leader,  and  it  is  easy 
to  realize  the  strange,  almost  mysterious,  influence 
which  Dizzy  exercised  over  many  contemporaries 
who  had  never  even  caught  a  glimpse  of  him.  Many, 
indeed,  like  myself,  who  belong  to  a  later  generation 
and  have  a  profound  distrust  of  all  politicians,  even 
now  grow  enthusiastic  concerning  the  genius  of  the 
wonderful  man  who,  starting  with  everything  against 
him,  lived  to  become  Benjamin  Disraeli,  first  and  only 
Earl  of  Beaconsfield. 

The  brilliant  personal  triumph  which  Dizzy  achieved 
reflected  its  lustre  upon  his  political  followers. 
Naturally,  therefore,  when  he  departed  the  whole 
fabric  was  shaken,  and  to-day  Conservatism  as 
a  serious  fighting  force  has  almost  ceased  to  exist. 
Within  recent  years  the  Unionist  party  has  been 
peculiarly  unfortunate.  To  begin  with,  it  seems  to 
have  no  clear  or  settled  policy,  while  the  old-fashioned 
sturdy  solidity  which  was  once  one  of  its  principal 
characteristics  is  a  thing  of  the  past. 

This  state  of  affairs,  however,  will  not  be  bettered 
by  a  policy  of  shuffle  and  retreat. 

To   have   the   best   chance    of   rising    once    more 


NEW  AND   OLD  47 

Phoenix-like  from  its  ashes  the  Conservative  party 
must  first  of  all  perfect  its  organization  and  also 
hold  out  more  tempting  inducements  for  young  men 
to  join  its  ranks.  In  this  it  would  merely  be  follow- 
ing the  example  of  Lord  Beaconsfield,  who  spared  no 
pains  to  win  over  promising  young  men. 

Disraeli  was  a  man  of  commanding  genius,  who 
by  an  accident  found  himself  at  the  head  of  the 
Conservative  party,  but  he  himself  was  something 
more  than  a  hidebound  Tory.  Nevertheless,  it 
is  to  the  credit  of  the  old  Conservatives  that, 
conscious  of  their  own  limitations,  they  accepted 
the  leadership  of  the  cleverest  man  they  could 
find.  On  the  other  hand,  their  successors  of  to-day 
are  inspired  by  a  disastrous  loyalty  to  leaders  who, 
owing  to  various  causes,  have  ceased  to  be  in  touch 
with  modern  needs.  What  wonder  that  the  country, 
unmoved  by  second-rate  Unionist  blandishments, 
trusts  itself  to  the  Liberals,  not  because  it  likes  them 
or  admires  them,  but  because,  of  two  evils,  it  prefers 
the  evil  which,  rightly  or  wrongly,  it  considers  the 
less? 

The  uncompromising  attitude  of  the  old-fashioned 
Conservatives  is  said  to  be  out  of  date — at  any  rate 
it  served  the  cause  far  better  than  compromise  and 
would-be  artful  tactics  have  served  the  new  school. 
The  Unionists,  indeed,  when  it  comes  to  a  question 
of  superior  cunning  or  adroit  falsification  of  fact, 
are  no  match  for  their  more  wily  opponents  of 
"  Chinese  labour  "  fame. 

A  more  shameless  cry  than   this  never  disgraced 


48      FANCIES,   FASHIONS,   AND  FADS 

any  political  party ;  even  Mr.  Gladstone  (who 
generally  managed  to  convince  himself  of  the  justice 
of  anything  he  advocated,  however  doubtful)  would 
have  recoiled  at  such  a  deliberate  falsification  of 
the  truth. 

The  fact  that  many  high-minded  and  sincere 
Liberals  connived  at  this  piece  of  chicanery  shows 
what  a  demoralizing  influence  party  politics  exert. 

"  Lies  always  come  first  in  everything,"  and 
attract  the  imbecile  by  the  law  of  universal  vulgarity. 
The  blind  see  the  unknown,  the  incredulous  believe 
the  false.  "  Few  are  they  who  look  to  the  inside 
of  things,  which  are  usually  very  different  from  what 
they  seem.  Alas,  that  Truth  generally  comes  in 
only  very  late,  limping  along,  as  it  were,  on  the  arm 
of  Time  !  " 

This  infamous  Chinese  labour  cry  was  undoubtedly 
one  of  the  greatest  factors  in  the  Liberal  triumph 
of  1906,  yet  we  find  Mr.  Lloyd  George  having  the 
face  to  tell  his  countrymen  at  Aberystwyth — 
May  25,  1912 — that  "In  politics,  lying  might  be 
a  good  gamble,  but  it  was  a  bad  investment.  On 
the  Stock  Exchange  they  had  people  who  were 
called  Bears,  and  their  function  was  to  run  down 
a  security,  to  circulate  falsehoods  about  it,  and  then 
try  to  break  it."  On  the  market,  "  the  only  chance 
of  making  money,"  continued  the  Chancellor,  "was 
to  sell  out  before  being  found  out." 

All  things  considered,  the  effrontery  displayed  in 
this  oration  was  nothing  short  of  stupendous.  Mr. 
Lloyd  George,  however  —  no  man  better  —  knew 


MR.   LLOYD   GEORGE  49 

exactly    what   would    go    down    with    the   public   he 
was  addressing, 

Abuse  of  the  leisured  classes  is  always  popular 
with  a  certain  section  of  the  proletariat,  and  whether 
as  a  chastiser  of  unearned  increment  or  defending 
that  "  stainless  honour  "  which  Mr.  Winston  Churchill 
told  the  National  Liberal  Club  was  one  of  the  Chan- 
cellor of  the  Exchequer's  principal  characteristics,  Mr. 
Lloyd  George  in  his  own  line,  at  least,  is  quite 
inimitable. 

No  man  better  than  he  understands  how  'to  hold 
the  attention  of  the  electorate.  When  he  is  not 
amusing  them  with  his  quips,  he  moves  them  with 
his  pathos.  It  is  pretty  certain  that  his  having  taken 
part  in  the  late  Ministerial  gamble  will  do  his  career 
little  harm.  Voters  always  have  a  very  short  memory 
where  anyone  who  flatters  and  amuses  them  is 
concerned. 

Quite  recently  the  Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer 
received  a  unanimous  vote  of  sympathy  at  a  recent 
political  meeting — passed  I  suppose  as  a  mark  of 
regret  at  the  failure  of  the  "  Marconi  gamble." 
There,  as  in  many  other  instances,  the  "stormy  petrel," 
as  he  called  himself,  was  certainly  "  all  at  sea"  ! 

With  all  his  faults  Mr.  Lloyd  George  has  at  least 
the  merit  of  being  amusing  in  his  speeches,  most  of 
which  are  readable  enough  to  cause  the  press  to 
report  them  almost  in  full;  a  compliment  only  accorded 
to  one  other  speaker — Lord  Rosebery. 

The  rise  of  the  Chancellor  is  very  much  to  his 
credit,  and  though  he  shows  few  signs  of  being  a 


50      FANCIES,   FASHIONS,   AND   FADS 

really  serious  politician,  he  must  possess  some  of  the 
qualities  which  go  to  the  making  of  a  great  man, 
for,  otherwise,  he  would  never  have  surmounted  the 
many  and  great  difficulties  which  have  shadowed  his 
path. 

At  the  present  time  the  Chancellor  has  become 
almost  a  national  institution,  which  even  those 
opposed  to  him  accept.  It  is,  however,  to  be  hoped 
that  we  shall  not  have  any  more  politicians  of  his 
peculiar  bent.  One  Lloyd  George  is  all  very  well, 
but  a  House  of  Commons  with  several  would  be 
unbearable. 

The  recent  Marconi  scandal  is  but  a  proof  of  how 
fallible  such  courtiers  of  the  people  as  Messrs.  Lloyd 
George,  Isaacs,  and  Lord  Murray  of  Elibank  always 
are.  We  are  told  that  in  former  times  patriots  prided 
themselves  on  two  things — their  own  poverty  and 
the  riches  of  the  State.  But,  poor  as  these  men  were, 
there  were  kings  not  rich  enough  to  purchase  them 
nor  powerful  enough  to  intimidate  them.  In  modern 
times  it  would  be  easier  to  find  a  patriot  rich  enough 
to  buy  a  king  than  a  king  not  rich  enough  to  buy  a 
patriot.  A  noble  Roman  is  said  to  have  torn  to 
pieces  with  his  own  teeth  a  woodpecker,  because  the 
augur,  being  consulted,  had  replied  that  if  the  bird 
lived  his  house  would  flourish,  but  if  it  died  the 
prosperity  of  the  State  would  prevail.  I  wonder 
what  some  of  our  modern  patriots  would  do  under  the 
same  circumstances.  I  think  a  roast  woodcock  at 
the  Savoy  grill-room  would  be  more  to  their  taste 
than  a  raw  woodpecker! 


CHARLES   BRADLAUGH  51 

There  are  two  trades,  a  friend  once  told  a  member 
of  the  Cabinet,  which  seem  to  be  inevitably  connected 
with  deterioration  of  character.  Horse-dealing  is 
one,  and  you  know  all  about  the  other ! 

The  superiority  of  the  Liberals  in  thoroughly 
bamboozling  the  electorate  is  almost  an  admitted 
fact.  The  Conservatives,  no  doubt,  though  they 
have  some  scruples,  are  almost  as  anxious  to  do  it, 
but  unfortunately  for  them  they  have  not  the  brains. 

Their  attitude  in  the  Marconi  affair  proved  this. 
Besides  wearing  the  subject  to  death,  the  Opposition 
assumed  a  self-righteous  attitude  which  at  times 
became  little  short  of  ridiculous. 

As  was  pertinently  remarked,  the  British  public 
were  regaled  with  the  spectacle  of  the  Conservatives 
pretending  to  be  shocked  at  speculations  which  many 
of  them  in  their  innermost  hearts  thought  of  no  con- 
sequence at  all,  while,  on  the  other  hand,  a  number  of 
austere  Radicals,  who  really  disapproved,  found  them- 
selves obliged  to  condone,  if  not  actually  defend, 
Stock  Exchange  gambling. 

The  tone  adopted  by  the  Unionist  party  with 
regard  to  the  whole  affair  was  not  dissimilar  from 
that  once  taken  up  by  the  late  Sir  Henry  Drum- 
mond  Wolff.  The  latter,  though  no  bigot  in 
religious  matters,  sought  to  make  party  capital  by 
opposing  the  taking  of  the  oath  by  Charles  Bradlaugh, 
a  man  who,  notwithstanding  his  aggressive  atheism, 
was  one  of  the  most  high-minded  and  sincere  indi- 
viduals who  ever  lived. 

A  strange  compound  of  good  and  evil,  poor  Brad- 


52      FANCIES,   FASHIONS,   AND   FADS 

laugh  was  really  a  good  Christian,  though  he  was  the 
last  to  know  it.  He  did  good  without  knowing  why, 
and  practised  all  the  virtues  of  religion,  at  the  same 
time  he  continually  attacked  its  doctrines  and  called 
all  its  advocates  impostors.  It  might  have  been  said  of 
him,  as  the  satirist  said  of  one  who  was  always  railing 
at  everything  good,  kind,  and  beneficent — 

"  His  honest  features  the  disguise  defy, 
And  his  face  loudly  gives  his  tongue  the  lie." 

Being  by  disposition  hostile  to  dogma,  Bradlaugh 
wasted  a  good  deal  of  time  combating  religious 
dogma  and  faith. 

The  great  Akbar  wrote  : 

"  In  every  temple  they  seek  Thee,  in  every 
language  they  praise  Thee.  Each  religion  says  that 
it  holds  Thee — the  One. 

"  But  it  is  Thee  whom  I  seek  from  temple  to 
temple,  for  Heresy  and  Orthodoxy  stand  not  behind 
the  screen  of  Truth." 

Perhaps  the  Member  for  Northampton  was  closer  to 
the  latter  than  many  professed  believers. 

Well  might  John  Bright  exclaim,  "  It  is  not 
Bradlaugh's  atheism  which  they  hate,  but  his  un- 
conscious Christianity." 

Sir  Henry  Drummond  Wolff,  to  whom  I  acted 
as  attache"  in  Teheran  and  Madrid,  and  who  was 
through  his  mother  a  cousin  of  mine,  was  a  most 
generous  and  good-hearted  man,  not  at  all  fanatically 
fond  of  religion,  narrow-minded,  or  bigoted  in  any 
way.  An  excellent  raconteur,  he  justly  enjoyed  a  great 


A  NOBLE   SPEECH  53 

reputation  for  telling  amusing  stories  of  a  frivolous 
kind,  many  of  which  would  certainly  not  have  been  to 
the  taste  of  the  Bench  of  Bishops.  Yet  here  was  this 
tolerant  and  kindly  man — who,  had  he  met  Mr.  Brad- 
laugh  outside  political  life,  would  no  doubt,  like  most 
sensible  people,  have  appreciated  and  liked  his  many 
good  qualities— doing  everything  he  could  to  put  the 
newly  elected  Member  for  Northampton  to  unlimited 
trouble  and  expense. 

Religious  conviction  or  detestation  of  Mr.  Brad- 
laugh's  unorthodox  views  did  not,  in  my  opinion — 
and  I  knew  Sir  Henry  as  well  as  anyone — have  the 
slightest  share  in  causing  the  latter  to  pursue  his 
relentless  and  ultimately  futile  opposition  to  the 
Member  for  Northampton  taking  his  seat. 

It  was  during  one  of  the  Bradlaugh  debates  that  Mr. 
Gladstone  made  a  speech  which  must  endear  his 
memory  to  all  who  admire  toleration  in  its  best  and 
most  difficult  form. 

Nothing  is  more  honourable  to  his  reputation  than 
his  masterly  plea  for  one  whose  religious  opinions 
were  in  direct  opposition  to  his  own.  Mr.  Glad- 
stone was  without  doubt  a  really  religious  man,  and 
nothing  could  have  been  more  painful  to  him  than 
to  find  himself  even  indirectly  identified  with 
atheism.  According  to  his  lights,  however,  he 
was  strictly  just,  and  feeling  it  was  his  duty  to 
speak,  he  spoke.  All  honour  to  him  for  having 
done  so. 

The  trumped-up  and  insincere  opposition  to 
Bradlaugh  and  the  "  Marconi  affair "  are  the  two 


54      FANCIES,   FASHIONS,  AND  FADS 

salient  instances  of  the  pitch  which  demoralization 
has  reached  in  modern  parliamentary  life. 

The  House  of  Commons,  indeed,  has  now  long 
ceased  to  be  a  place  for  a  man  of  sturdy  and  indepen- 
dent views.  Such  a  one  is  not  wanted  in  this  nest 
of  catchpenny  intrigue  and  pitiful  evasion.  Were  it 
otherwise,  Mr.  Harold  Cox  would  not  be  without  a 
seat.  He,  at  any  rate,  comes  in  for  no  share  of  that 
growing  contempt  which  most  of  our  politicians  so 
richly  deserve. 

It  is,  at  all  events,  some  consolation  to  reflect  that 
no  class  of  men  becomes  so  completely  forgotten  after 
their  deaths  as  politicians,  while  their  speeches,  like 
out-of-date  theological  literature,  are  only  dragged 
out  of  obscurity  to  light  fires  or  to  be  made  into  pulp. 

The  country  is  rapidly  becoming  disgusted  with  the 
humbug  and  trickery  of  the  party  system,  while 
thoroughly  tired  of  the  House  of  Commons,  its  super- 
abundant legislation  and  make-believe  ways.  No 
wonder  that  recently  when  the  House  rose  for  five 
months  a  psean  of  joy  went  up  from  all  sensible 
people,  most  of  whom  sighed  to  think  this  home  of 
futile  talk  could  not  be  shut  up  for  ten  years. 

The  Government  (some  of  the  members  of  which 
are  really  clever  men,  who,  if  unhampered  by  the 
House  of  Commons,  would  govern  the  country  well 
enough)  are  obliged  to  keep  on  pushing  forward  un- 
necessary measures  in  order  to  satisfy  their  supporters. 
The  Opposition  is  in  a  still  worse  plight,  having  no 
policy  and  acute  differences  in  its  ranks. 

In  1885   an  acute  observer  declared  that  the  great 


PARALYSIS   AND   IMPOTENCE        55 

fact  in  the  political  situation  in  England  was  that  the 
party  system  which  underlay  political  life  for  three 
centuries  had  broken  down.  "  Its  machinery,"  said 
he,  "  is  exhausted  or  hopelessly  out  of  repair.  Its 
energies  are  distracted.  What  was  once  a  whole  is 
split  up  into  fractions  and  sects,  which  reduce  each 
other  to  paralysis  and  impotence." 

This  may  have  been  partially  true  then,  it  is 
certainly  wholly  true  now. 

Particularly  impotent  is  the  Unionist  party. 

The  main  hope  of  the  Unionists  is  based  upon  an 
idea  that  the  country  will  eventually  become  sufficiently 
disgusted  with  the  present  Government  to  put  them  in 
office,  but  what  on  earth  they  are  going  to  do  when 
they  get  there  it  is  increasingly  difficult  to  divine. 

The  repeal  of  the  Parliament  Act  and  drastic  im- 
provement of  Mr.  Lloyd  George's  insurance  scheme 
will,  we  are  assured,  form  important  features  of  the 
Unionist  programme.  One  Government,  however, 
very  rarely  reverses  anything  which  its  predecessor 
has  done,  and  in  all  probability  the  advent  of  the 
Unionists  to  power  would  find  them  too  much  oc- 
cupied with  minor  legislative  tinkerings,  bickerings  as 
to  Tariff  Reform  and  the  like,  to  effect  any  serious 
change  in  the  Acts  which  they  profess  to  hate. 

The  late  Lord  Salisbury  was  undoubtedly  a  source 
of  enormous  strength  to  the  class  to  which  he  belonged; 
the  methods  of  the  clever  Cecil  family  have  not  been 
equally  successful.  Certain  of  Lord  Salisbury's  off- 
spring, indeed,  whilst  endowed  with  brilliant  mental 
gifts,  often  seem  to  be  all  at  sea  in  the  modern  world. 


56      FANCIES,   FASHIONS,   AND  FADS 

Lord  Robert's  keenness  for  Woman's  Suffrage  actually 
caused  him  to  join  in  the  most  un-English  demand  for 
names  in  the  highly  discreditable  agitation  concerning 
the  Piccadilly  flat.  Lord  Hugh's  energies  are  cramped 
by  the  influence  of  an  ecclesiasticism  which  is  unsuited 
to  the  needs  and  ideas  of  the  present  age. 

From  a  certain  point  of  view,  no  doubt,  the  fact  that 
this  is  so  is  to  be  deplored  ;  but  politicians,  to  exercise 
real  influence,  must,  to  a  great  extent,  swim  with  the 
tide.  On  the  other  hand,  a  pernicious  influence  in 
modern  politics  is  that  exercised  by  extreme  timidity. 
"La  peur  accroit  les  maux :  si  I' on  ne  sttait  pas  si 
fort  effrayt  des  menaces,  on  eut  pu  resister  avec  un 
certain  succes" 

This  particularly  applies  to  the  Unionist  party,  a 
section  of  which  is  always  trying  to  show  the  electorate 
how  anxious  it  is  to  yield  to  any  passing  whim,  and 
goes  poking  about  to  discover  some  scrap  of  meddle- 
some social  reform  overlooked  or  rejected  by  the 
Radicals. 

Many  a  voter,  I  feel  sure,  would  willingly  vote  for 
a  real  Conservative  party,  but  there  is  at  present  none 
for  the  poor  fellow  to  vote  for,  and  so,  not  from 
any  admiration  for  Radical  principles,  but  preferring 
the  lesser  of  two  evils,  in  despair  he  is  forced  into 
supporting  the  other  side. 


Ill 

BOHEMIA 

IT  is  all  very  well  to  say,  as  the  late  Sir  Walter 
Besant  said  of  Murger,  the  author  of  the  "  Vie  de 
Boheme,"  that  the  life  of  a  true  Bohemian  is 
usually  sad,  mistaken  in  its  aims,  bankrupt  in  its 
aspirations,  ruined  by  its  follies.  Without  some 
sympathy  for  Bohemianism  man  is  a  dull  dog  indeed. 
In  addition  to  this,  those  whose  youth  is  austere 
can  seldom  or  ever  understand  humanity  and  make 
allowances  for  its  faults  and  failings. 

A  century  ago  and  later,  even  great  statesmen  made 
occasional  incursions  into  the  land  of  Bohemia,  and 
the  youth  of  the  governing  classes,  as  a  rule,  were 
thoroughly  acquainted  with  all  its  ways. 

Those,  of  course,  were  rough  days,  and  the  expe- 
rience gained  in  queer  resorts  produced  a  very 
different  sort  of  Englishman  from  the  one,  we  see 
to-day. 

An  instance  of  the  stern  point  of  view  taken  up  by 
the  old  school  was  the  remark  of  the  second  of  a 
certain  duellist,  who,  after  killing  his  man,  began  to 
express  sorrow. 

"  Sorrow  indeed  !      For   what  ?  "    rapped    out   the 


58      FANCIES,   FASHIONS,   AND   FADS 

fire-eater  in  question.  "  Damme !  you  shot  him  like 
a  gentleman,  and  there's  an  end  on't.  What  the 
devil  do  you  want  ?  You  can't  kill  him  again !  " 

Though  in  point  of  time  we  are  not  very  far  away 
from  the  earlier  part  of  the  nineteenth  century,  it  is 
difficult  to  estimate  the  change  in  manners  and  habits 
which  since  that  period  has  occurred.  Men  of  fashion 
delighted  in  paying  nocturnal  visits  to  St.  Giles's, 
where  the  knives  and  forks  were  chained  to  the  table, 
and  for  twopence  you  could  have  a  plate  of  hot 
ox-cheek,  a  tumbler  of  small  beer,  and  a  platter  of 
Basilican  salve.  The  buck  or  dandy,  who  formerly 
was  a  recognized  figure  in  West  End  life,  has  dis- 
appeared, and  the  days  of  wild  sprees,  knocker-wrench- 
ing, and  the  like  do  not  seem  likely  to  return. 

Though  the  Corinthian  of  the  last  days  of  the 
Regency  belonged  to  a  leisured  class  which  was  little 
concerned  with  the  question  of  having  to  earn  its  own 
living,  he  was  usually  a  virile,  full-blooded  specimen  of 
robust  manhood,  in  reality  far  superior  to  the  dandy 
of  Victorian  times  or  the  "  nut "  of  to-day,  too  often 
mere  languid  poseurs  of  the  "  nil  admirari "  order. 

The  "nut,"  moreover,  unlike  the  dandy  of  the  sixties, 
takes  a  pride  in  appearing  to  be  cunning  and  cute. 
The  best  description  of  his  ideals,  curiously  enough, 
is  that  given  by  Byron  in  Canto  XI  of  "  Don  Juan  "  : 

"Who,  on  a  lark,  with  black-eyed  Sal  (his  blowing), 
So  prime,  so  swell,  so  nutty,  and  so  knowing  ? " 

Though  he  had  a  number  of  good  qualities  unknown 
to  his  successors,  the  buck  of  the  past  had  some 


A   BIBULOUS   GENERATION  59 

very  bad  ones — the  worst,  his  .fondness  for  consuming 
large  quantities  of  strong  liquor. 

Intemperance  was  more  or  less  rife  among  all 
classes,  and  from  1770  to  about  1820,  not  only  men 
about  town,  but  people  in  highly  responsible  positions 
habitually  drank  deep. 

Certain  judges  were  noted  for  their  potations. 
Of  the  drinking  judges  of  the  day,  Lord  Hermand 
was  the  most  famous.  "A  case  of  some  great 
offence  was  tried  before  him,  and  the  counsel  pleaded 
extenuation  for  his  client  in  that  he  was  drunk  when 
he  committed  the  offence.  '  Drunk ! '  exclaimed 
Lord  Hermand,  in  great  indignation  ;  '  if  he  could 
do  such  a  thing  when  he  was  drunk,  what  might 
he  not  have  done  when  he  was  sober  ? '  evidently 
implying  that  the  normal  condition  of  human  nature, 
and  its  most  hopeful  one,  .was  a  condition  of 
intoxication." 

The  amount  of  drink  swallowed  by  this  bibulous 
generation  was  amazing,  and  there  was  a  regular 
cult  of  articles  connected  with  the  consumption  of 
alcohol. 

A  punchbowl  was  once  considered  an  article  of 
furniture  necessary  to  the  humblest  household.  It 
was  usually  given  as  a  present  to  young  people  on 
their  marriage ;  and  the  punchbowl  with  the  ladle, 
with  a  guinea  fixed  in  the  bottom  of  it,  were 
generally  the  most  cherished  of  the  Lares  and 
Penates  of  our  great-grandfathers.  In  Dissenters' 
families  the  punchbowl  was  frequently  used  as  a 
kind  of  baptismal  font.  There  are  some  bowls 


60     FANCIES,  FASHIONS,   AND  FADS 

which  have  acquired  a  rare  value  from  their  historic 
reminiscences. 

The  original  receipt  for  punch  is  said  to  have 
been  brought  back  by  a  traveller  from  the  Coro- 
mandel  coast  some  two  hundred  and  fifty  years  ago. 
"Punch"  (which  he  is  supposed  to  have  declared 
was  the  favourite  tipple  of  the  inhabitants  of 
this  region)  had  obtained  its  name  from  "  paunch," 
a  word  in  their  language  meaning  five — the  number 
of  the  ingredients  of  which  it  was  compounded. 
These  five  component  parts  of  punch  were  spirits, 
water,  lemon,  sugar,  and  spice ;  but  we  have  now 
reduced  the  elements  to  four  by  leaving  out  the  spice. 
Thus  we  have,  as  one  poet  suggests,  "  four  striking 
opposites — the  strong,  the  weak,  the  sour,  the  sweet." 
The  basis  of  properly  made  punch  is  spring  water 
(hot  or  cold,  as  the  season  may  incline  the  taste  of 
the  company),  to  which  is  added  lime  or  lemon 
juice  and  sugar,  thus  forming  a  kind  of  sherbet. 
The  spirit,  which  may  be  either  brandy,  whisky, 
rum,  or  arrack,  is  then  poured  in,  and  the  liquor 
becomes  punch.  When  lemon  juice  is  used  instead 
of  lime  juice,  it  is  called  punch  royal ;  and,  whatever 
may  be  the  value  of  the  statement,  it  is  said  to  be 
less  liable  to  affect  the  head  as  well  as  more 
grateful  to  the  stomach.  Milk  punch  is  made  by 
adding  nearly  as  much  milk  to  the  sherbet  as  there 
is  water.  Some  prefer  tea  punch,  in  which  a 
decoction  of  green  tea  takes  the  place  of  water.  There 
is  a  punch  called  chambermaid's  punch  (though 
why  so  named  no  one  seems  to  know)  which  is 


THE   MISPLACED   H  61 

made,  without  water,  of  lime  juice  sharpened  with 
a  little  orange  and  lemon  juice,  twice  as  much 
white  wine  as  lemon  juice,  and  four  times  as  much 
brandy,  sugar  being  added  to  the  taste. 

The  large  amount  of  spirituous  refreshment 
consumed  by  a  long  past  generation  would  seem  to 
have  made  it  choleric  and  quick  to  resent  a  slight 
by  the  display  of  physical  violence.  Fighting  with 
watchmen  or,  indeed,  no  matter  who,  was  at  one  time 
considered  almost  a  legitimate  form  of  amusement 
for  a  young  fellow  of  spirit. 

The  old-fashioned  Englishman  was  rather  blood- 
thirsty ;  it  used  to  be  said  that  when  he  got  up  on 
a  fine  day  his  first  idea  was  to  go  out  and  kill  some- 
thing. At  the  present  time  it  could,  with  more  justice, 
be  said  that  his  first  idea  is  to  go  out  and  reform 
somebody. 

In  the  early  part  of  the  nineteenth  century  every 
young  buck  prided  himself  upon  being  able  to  hold  his 
own  with  his  fists,  handle  the  ribbons  of  a  four-in-hand, 
and  talk  slang  as  glibly  as  a  professional  coachman. 

London  slang,  indeed,  had  quite  a  literature  of 
its  own,  and  the  public  delighted  in  imaginary 
characters  who,  like  that  creation  of  a  later  age, 
Sam  Weller,  had  a  peculiar  pronunciation  of  the 
King's  English. 

Perhaps  the  best  instance  of  the  habit  of  misplacing 
the  h  was  a  conversation  supposed  to  have  been 
held  at  the  Zoological  Gardens  : — 

Young  Lady:  "La,  ma,  here's  a  heagle!" 


62      FANCIES,   FASHIONS,  AND   FADS 

Mama  (reproachfully) :  "A  heagle !  Oh,  you 
hignorant  gal.  Vy,  it's  a  howl." 

Keeper  of  the  Menagerie  (respectfully) :  "  Axes 
parding,  mum,  it's  an  'awk ! " 

The  bucks,  while  they  pronounced  their  #s,  never- 
theless delighted  in  speaking  a  sort  of  special 
language  of  their  own,  the  best  professor  of  which 
may  be  said  to  have  been  a  writer  with  a  fine  typi- 
cally English  name.  This  was  Pierce  Egan,  who 
enriched  it  with  many  amusing  terms.  He  was  a 
clever  man,  and  some  of  his  happiest  efforts  betray 
a  strength  of  sense,  and  an  inclination  to  support 
honour  and  correct  feelings  which  show  him  to 
have  been  something  more  than  a  mere  frivolous 
man  of  pleasure. 

Not  a  few  of  his  writings  are  replete  with  gaiety 
information,  and  spirit ;  and  there  are  few  authors 
who  have  made  social  history  the  vehicle  of  so 
much  life  and  whim.  Personally  he  is  said  to  have 
been  an  intelligent  man  in  conversation,  as  well  as 
a  pleasant  singer — in  his  day  a  gift  highly  esteemed. 

Singing  and  health-drinking  were  then  important 
features  on  all  convivial  occasions.  About  the 
last  instance,  of  a  regular  old-fashioned  function  of 
this  sort,  with  songs  and  special  toasts,  was  the 
traditional  Cambridge  Beefsteak  Club  dinner,  to 
which  the  members  sat  down  in  blue  coats,  brass 
buttons,  and  buff  waistcoats.  The  president  always 
sang  a  song  composed,  I  believe,  early  in  the 
eighteenth  century.  In  addition  to  much  health 
drinking,  there  were  four  regular  toasts,  the  newest 


MUND1G  63 

of  which  was  the  health  of  Mr.  Bowes,  the  only 
undergraduate  who  ever  won  the  Derby.  When 
drinking  this  in  my  Cambridge  days  I  was  not 
aware  that  I  was  toasting  the  defeat  of  my  own 
grandfather,  who  lost  a  large  sum  of  money  by  the 
defeat  of  his  horse,  the  Angelica  colt,  beaten  by 
half  a  neck — -as  the  old-fashioned  term  ran — in  the 
Derby  of  1835  by  Mr.  Bowes's  horse  Miindig.  As 
Mlindig  is  a  German  word  signifying  "  of  age," 
the  owner  was  probably  just  about  twenty-one  at 
the  time.  In  after  life  he  became  a  great  collector 
of  Oriental  china. 

As  a  picture  of  the  life  led  by  a  man  of  fashion 
in  the  early  part  of  the  nineteenth  century  "  Tom  and 
Jerry"  is  no  doubt  somewhat  overdrawn,  but  the  spirit 
of  life  is  .there. 

Pierce  Egan  knew  all  the  haunts  of  pleasure  of 
his  day,  and  was  especially  at  home  in  Bohemian 
circles. 

In  the  chronicles  of  the  life  about  town  of  his 
day  there  is  a  deal  of  matter  for  the  student  of  social 
development.  People  were  more  simple  and  credu- 
lous, there  was  a  strong  hankering  for  physical 
violence  and  a  decided  predilection  for  noise.  On 
the  whole,  however,  the  populace  were  much  the 
same  as  they  are  now,  but  there  was  more  coarseness, 
more  massiveness,  and  less  grace. 

Brutality  to  animals  was  viewed  with  unconcern. 
London  abounded  with  low  haunts  devoted  to  all 
kinds  of  spurious  and  cruel  sports.  This  taste  spread 
across  the  Channel.  For  the  convenience  of  bucks 


64      FANCIES,   FASHIONS,   AND   FADS 

visiting  Paris  a  regular  arena  was  installed  on  the 
Barriere  du  Combat,  a  picture  of  which  appears  in 
another  "Tom  and  Jerry"  book  describing  life  in  Paris. 
A  regular  performance,  known  as  "  Le  Combat  des 
Animaux,"  was  held  on  Sundays,  Mondays,  and  fete- 
days.  The  brutal  show,  such  as  it  was,  took  place 
in  an  enclosure,  round  which  was  a  gallery,  and  under 
it  dens  of  beasts,  together  with  a  kennel  of  dogs, 
who  were  always  ready  for  battle.  Wolves,  bulls, 
and  bears,  the  latter  with  their  teeth  filed  down, 
encountered  trained  dogs  ;  but  the  latter  seldom 
killed  their  opponents,  as  amusement,  not  destruction, 
instigated  the  combats.  The  bulls  had  their  horns 
sawn  off.  There  were  also  fireworks  exhibited,  in 
which  was  to  be  seen  a  bull-dog,  raised  fifty  feet 
by  a  rope,  which  he  held  between  his  teeth,  regardless 
of  the  flames  which  surrounded  him.  The  spectacle 
commenced  at  three  to  four  o'clock,  and  the  admission 
was  i  fr.  and  2  fr. 

"Tom  and  Jerry"  has  attracted  many  who  would 
have  loathed  taking  part  in  most  of  the  scenes  it 
describes.  Thackeray  confessed  that  he  always  re- 
tained a  great  liking  for  the  book,  and  especially  the 
pictures. 

The  costumes  of  the  period,  as  was  demonstrated 
in  Sir  Conan  Doyle's  excellent  play,  "  The  House 
of  Temperley,"  were  certainly  very  picturesque  as 
compared  with  the  sad-coloured  clothes  of  to-day. 

The  popularity  of  "Tom  and  Jerry"  was  quite 
phenomenal,  and  the  result  was  that  all  sorts  of 
other  volumes  in  the  same  style  were  offered  to 


SIMON   PURE  65 

the  public.  An  extra  series  of  twenty-three  addi- 
tional coloured  plates,  with  descriptive  verses  by 
Heath,  are  occasionally,  or  rather  very  rarely,  found 
with  the  first  edition.  These  extra  plates,  it  is 
probable,  were  designed  by  Robert  Cruikshank,  whose 
portrait,  as  well  as  that  of  Pierce  Egan  (depicted 
as  Bob  Logic  the  Oxonian),  is  to  be  found  in  many 
of  the  scenes. 

The  twenty-three  plates  in  question,  with  the  title 
"Fashion  or  Folly,  or  the  Buck's  Pilgrimage,"  were 
published  separately,  however,  in  1832.  They  now 
command  a  considerable  price. 

Another  very  scarce  Tom  and  Jerry  pamphlet 
is  "  Death  of  Life  in  London,  or  Tom  and  Jerry's 
Funeral,"  by  T.  Greenwood,  published  by  Lowndes 
without  date.  It  is  embellished  with  a  coloured  fold- 
ing front  by  George  Cruikshank. 

In  connexion  with  the  latter  artist  an  amusing 
error  was  formerly  to  be  found  in  an  early  edition 
of  that  famous  work,  "  Nagler's  Kunstler  Lexicon." 
An  English  review  had  some  time  before  contrasted 
the  merits  of  the  famous  caricaturist  with  those  of 
his  brother  Robert.  In  the  course  of  this  article 
George  had  been  alluded  to  as  "the  real' Simon 
Pure."  Unaware  of  the  real  significance  of  a 
quotation  which  has  become  proverbial  amongst  us, 
the  German  editor  of  that  edition  of  the  "  Kunstler 
Lexicon "  began  his  memoir  of  Cruikshank  by 
gravely  informing  the  public  that  he  was  an  English 
artist  "whose  real  name  was  Simon  Pure"!  In 
another  part  of  the  Lexicon,  under  the  letter  P,  was 
to  be  found: — 


66     FANCIES,  FASHIONS,  AND  FADS 

"  PURE  (SIMON),  the  real  name  of  the  celebrated 
caricaturist,  George  Cruikshank." 

"  Tom  and  Jerry's  Funeral  "  must,  of  course,  not  be 
confused  with  the  "  Finish  to  the  Adventures  of  Tom, 
Jerry,  and  Logic,"  by  Pierce  Egan,  published  in 
1830,  of  which  there  are  two  good  reprints  (1869 
and  1887). 

In  this  volume  we  see  the  end  of  Corinthian  Tom, 
killed  by  a  fall  out  hunting,  and  the  retirement  from 
life  in  London  of  Jerry  Hawthorn,  after  taking  unto 
himself  a  blooming  squire's  daughter  as  wife. 

"  Life  in  Paris,"  comprising  the  Rambles,  Sprees, 
and  Amours  of  Dick  Wildfire,  Squire  Jenkins,  and 
Captain  O'Shuffleton  in  the  French  metropolis, 
with  twenty-one  comic  vignettes  and  twenty-one 
coloured  engravings  of  scenes  from  real  life,  by 
George  Cruikshank,  written  by  D.  Carey  and  pub- 
lished in  1822,  is  now  a  scarce  work  of  which  no 
reprint  has  appeared.  The  coloured  plates,  spirited 
and  well  done,  undoubtedly  convey  a  good  idea  of 
a  certain  side  of  life  in  the  French  capital  during 
the  early  part  of  the  nineteenth  century.  The  letter- 
press, whilst  of  course  tinged  by  the  "  we  show  vice 
in  order  to  induce  virtue  "  pose — a  rather  canting 
spirit,  by  the  by — is  at  times  amusing  as  well  as 
not  uninstructive  to  the  reader  fond  of  delving  into 
the  more  trivial  ways  and  customs  of  an  epoch 
now  as  remote  from  us  as  that  of  the  ancient 
Assyrians. 

Another  less-known  volume  written  in  the  same 
style  as  "Tom  and  Jerry"  was  "Life  in  Dublin," 


MIDDLEMEN  67 

which  includes  an  account  of  the  landing  of  George 
IV  when  he  visited  Ireland. 

The  place  of  Logic — who,  by  the  way,  Pierce  Egan 
drew  more  or  less  as  a  picture  of  himself — is  here 
occupied  by  a  somewhat  impecunious  officer  who 
does  not  possess  the  charm  of  the  Oxonian. 

This  same  visit  of  George  IV  produced  a  consider- 
able stir  among  certain  agents  then  known  as 
"  middlemen,"  who  had  a  free  hand  in  the  manage- 
ment of  properties  owned  by  absentee  landlords, 
some  of  whom  chose  the  occasion  to  pay  one  of 
their  rare  visits  to  their  Irish  domain. 

The  harvest  some  of  these  "  middlemen  "  reaped  is 
even  now  legendary  in  those  parts  of  the  country  where 
they  had  power  to  oppress.  One  great  landowner 
about  to  visit  Ireland  to  welcome  King  George  IV 
desired  his  middleman  to  put  his  castle  in  order 
for  his  reception.  "  My  lord,"  was  the  reply,  "  I 
burned  it  down  twenty  years  ago  as  the  readiest 
way  to  come  at  the  lead  which  covered  it,  thinking 
your  lordship,  after  a  thirty  years'  absence,  would 
never  come  here  alive  to  look  for  a  resting-place." 

By  the  tenant  "  the  middleman "  was  too  often 
regarded  as  a  sort  of  rapscallion  placed  between 
his  landlord  and  himself,  merely  for  purposes  of 
oppression.  Not  a  few,  it  is  true,  were  intolerable 
extortioners  and  tyrants,  who  stuck  at  nothing  to 
gain  money ;  they  kept  hounds,  and  assumed  an 
authority  far  superior  to  the  law,  their  employer,  the 
real  landed  proprietor,  being  very  seldom  accessible 
for  purposes  of  appeal.  A  conspicuous  instance  was 


68      FANCIES,   FASHIONS,   AND   FADS 

the  Earl  of  Bristol,  Bishop  of  Londonderry,  who 
held  that  office  during  a  long  life,  and  spent  the 
revenues  of  his  bishopric  and  estates  in  Italy. 

Dublin  produced  its  own  contribution  to  "  Tom 
and  Jerry "  literature.  In  1822  was  published 
there  "  Tom  and  Jerry  ;  or,  Life  in  London  ;  with  a 
Copious  Vocabulary  of  Flash  and  Cant."  This  has 
a  coloured  frontispiece. 

Other  similar  publications  were : 

"  Corinthian  Parodies,  by  Tom,  Jerry,  and  Logic, 
illustrative  of  Life  in  London."  Published  in  1823. 
With  a  folding  coloured  frontispiece  by  J.  R. 
Cruikshank." 

"  Real  Life  in  London ;  or,  The  Rambles  and 
Adventures  of  Bob  Tallyho,  Esq."  This  is  generally 
attributed  to  Pierce  Egan.  First  edition,  2  vols., 
1821-2,  8vo.  Originally  published  in  fourteen 
parts  in  pink  pictorial  wrappers,  afterwards  in 
pictorial  boards  as  above.  Some  copies  on  large 
paper.  Vol.  i.  has  nineteen  coloured  plates  (in- 
clusive of  frontispiece  and  title).  Vol.  ii.,  thirteen 
coloured  plates  (inclusive  of  frontispiece  and  title), 
by  Heath,  Alken,  Rowlandson,  and  others. 

"  Doings  in  London  ;  or,  Day  and  Night  Scenes  of 
the  Frauds,  Frolics,  Manners,  and  Depravities  of  the 
Metropolis,"  by  George  Smeeton,  1828.  This  volume, 
which  was  republished  in  1840,  contains  thirty-three 
plates  after  R.  Cruikshank. 

>>  Lowndes  published  a  number  of  burlesques  (now 
scarce)  founded  upon  "  Tom  and  Jerry."  The  most 
worthy  of  attention  is  "  Tom  and  Jerry  ;  or,  Life  in 


TOM   AND   JERRY  69 

London  ;  an  entirely  new  Whimsical,  Local,  Melo- 
dramatic, Pantomimical,  Equestrian  Drama,  in  Three 
Acts,  entitled  '  Life  in  London,'  by  Pierce  Egan.  .  .  . 
As  performed  at  Davis's  Royal  Amphitheatre,  London" 
(1822).  It  cost  a  shilling,  and  had  one  coloured  print. 

A  play  was  founded  upon  the  adventures  of  the  two 
heroes,  and  after  having  had  a  great  success  in  London, 
was  played  all  over  the  British  Isles. 

In  Dublin,  where  it  ran  for  more  than  fifty  nights, 
an  amusing  incident  occurred.  In  the  part  of 
Corinthian  Tom,  Barry  wore  Russian  duck  trousers, 
originally  white,  which,  however,  as  the  run  went  on, 
began  to  assume  rather  a  dusky  appearance,  indicating 
their  innocence  of  soap  and  water.  At  last,  when 
those  long-enduring  duck  trousers  made  their  appear- 
ance about  the  twentieth  night,  encasing  Barry's  legs 
as  if  they  grew  there  and  were  never  to  undergo  a 
change  ("  sea-change,"  fresh-water,  or  other),  one  of 
Barry's  persecutors  cried  out  to  him  in  the  gallery  : 

"  Whist,   Barry,  you  divil !  " 

"  What  do  ye  want,  ye  blackguard  ?  "  said  Barry, 
nothing  moved  by  a  style  of  address  with  which  he 
was  perfectly  familiar. 

"  Wait  till  I  whisper  to  you,"  said  the  voice. 

All  the  house  was  silent. 

"  When  did  your  ducks  take  the  water  last  ?  " 

The  audience  roared  with  laughter  for  several 
minutes,  and  Barry,  for  the  first  time  in  his  life,  was 
beat  by  the  gallery. 

The  popularity  which  the  Rambles  and  Sprees  of 
Tom  and  Jerry  obtained  in  England  very  soon  made 


70      FANCIES,   FASHIONS,   AND   FADS 

its  way  across  the  Channel,  where  it  became  the  topic 
of  general  conversation  ;  nay,  it  crept  so  much  into 
favour  with  the  gay  folks  of  Paris  that  "  Life  in 
London  "  was  speedily  translated  into  French,  and  the 
translation  had  a  most  extensive  circulation  in  France. 

The  French  version  of  "  Life  in  London,"  published 
by  Thierry,  is  entitled  "  Le  Diorama  Anglais,  ou 
Promenades  Pittoresques  a  Londres,"  8vo. 

The  vast  popularity  of  this  sort  of  literature  abated 
with  the  dawn  of  the  Victorian  Age ;  nevertheless, 
reprints  of  various  "  Tom  and  Jerry  "  books  attest  that 
the  popularity  of  this  sort  of  book  has  not  entirely 
waned. 

Modern  imitations  of  Pierce  Egan's  masterpiece 
have  also  been  attempted  at  intermittent  periods. 

By  far  the  best  of  these  was  a  cleverly  written 
skit  which  appeared  in  Punch  some  two-score,  years 
ago. 

For  several  weeks  readers  of  the  London  Charivari 
were  entertained  with  the  rambles  of  Tom  and  Jerry 
and  Logic  around  the  metropolitan  haunts  which 
had  taken  the  place  of  those  popular  in  their  own 
day. 

The  writer  of  the  skit  in  question,  which  was 
admirably  illustrated,  was  peculiarly  successful  in 
catching  Pierce  Egan's  style  ;  the  whole  thing  was 
very  clever  and  amusing. 

Since  those  days  many  of  the  resorts  visited  by  the 
resuscitated  Corinthians  have  become  as  obsolete  as 
Tom  Cribb's  parlour, 

Cannot  Mr.  Owen  Seaman,  who,  to  the  delight  of 


THE   FINISH  71 

many,  has  put  new  life  into  Mr.  Punch,  persuade  the 
gallant  trio  to  pay  another  visit  to  modern  London  ? 
I  am  sure  their  views  of  modern  customs  and  ways 
would  make  most  amusing  reading. 

Between  1820  and  1840  a  great  revolution  took 
place  in  social  manners  and  customs.  The  advent 
of  that  commercialism  which  is  so  triumphant  to-day 
was  fatal  to  the  Corinthian  spirit. 

Taste  became  less  coarse,  if  less  robust,  and  gradu- 
ally, in  many  old  houses  owned  by  bucks  long  grown 
old,  the  sporting  pictures  so  much  admired  by  a 
rougher  generation  were  sent  down  to  the  steward's  to 
make  way  for  some  modern  gewgaws,  groups  of  opera- 
dancers,  Italian  Venuses,  and  half- naked  waltzers.  To 
the  horror  of  the  old  school  the  sporting  motto  of 
"  May  those  who  protect  game  never  want  it "  was 
often  removed  to  make  way  for  some  frivolous  work 
of  art. 

The  flash  kens  and  prize-fighters'  haunts  began 
to  be  cleared  away.  The  last  of  the  Covent  Garden 
night-taverns,  the  noted  "  Finish,"  kept  by  Mrs.  Butler 
upon  the  south  side  of  the  market  sheds,  ceased  to 
exist  in  1829. 

Up  to  comparatively  recent  times,  however,  it  was 
not  unusual  for  young  fellows  about  town,  who  had 
been  up  all  night  at  Bohemian  clubs  or  at  a  fancy 
ball,  to  go  and  obtain  refreshment  at  one  of  the 
hostelries  which  formerly  had  special  permission  to 
open  early  for  the  convenience  of  market  porters 
and  others.  This,  no  doubt,  like  a  similar  fancy  for 
breakfasting  after  a  late  night  at  a  cabman's  shelter 


72      FANCIES,   FASHIONS,   AND   FADS 

(now,  I  understand,  strictly  prohibited),  was  merely  a 
survival  of  Tom  and  Jerry  traditions. 

"  Life  in  London,"  as  pictured  by  Pierce  Egan, 
really  came  to  an  end  with  the  creation  of  the 
modern  police  force  by  Sir  Robert  Peel.  Rows  with 
the  wheezy  and  rather  disreputable  old  watchmen 
seldom  entailed  any  serious  consequences  or  loss  of 
social  prestige,  but  coming  into  conflict  with  the  new 
police  was  an  entirely  different  matter. 

Also  the  tolerance  which  condoned  almost  any 
kind  of  exuberance  manifested  by  hot-blooded  patri- 
cian youth  was  going  out  of  fashion ;  the  West  End 
was  ceasing  to  be  the  special  playground  of  the  aris- 
tocracy, whose  former  almost  unlimited  licence  to  do  as 
they  pleased  was  being  gradually  but  surely  curtailed. 

A  less  brutal  if  less  robust  tone  was  beginning 
to  pervade  all  classes,  which  recoiled  at  many  of  their 
ancestors'  rougher  ways. 

Old  bucks  in  vain  complained  that  the  age  was 
too  refined.  The  spirit  of  progress  was  against 
them,  and  some  of  the  new  generation  even  dared 
to  hint  that  a  gentleman  who  only  took  a  delight 
in  the  style  of  his  team  and  in  the  "rattling  of  the 
bars  "  was  nothing  but  a  rough,  unaccomplished  clown. 
Gradually  the  Corinthian  ceased  to  have  any  prestige. 
The  Champagne  Charley  of  the  mid-Victorian  era 
could  not  be  compared  to  his  predecessor,  the  patri- 
cian hero  whom  Pierce  Egan  had  described ;  and 
with  the  disappearance  of  the  night-houses  in  the 
early  seventies,  larks  and  sprees  ceased  to  be  con- 
sidered good  form. 


THE   SHERIDAN   CLUB  73 

Something  of  the  Tom  and  Jerry  spirit,  however, 
lingered  on  much  later  than  this,  and  hot-blooded 
young  men  about  town  as  late  as  the  early  eighties 
would  occasionally  invade  supper  places  with  the 
deliberate  intention  of  provoking  a  fight.  I  have 
seen  a  wild  young  fellow,  out  for  what  he  thought 
a  lark,  hurl  a  chair  into  the  middle  of  a  room  full 
of  people  at  supper,  and  afterwards  engage  in  a 
spirited  bout  of  fisticuffs  with  the  officials  who  tried 
to  turn  him  out. 

Though  the  well-to-do  classes  have  given  up 
knocker-wrenching  and  the  like,  some  equivalent  of 
this  most  silly  and  undesirable  form  of  horseplay  is 
still  thought  great  fun  by  the  modern  hooligan. 

Fun  and  frolic,  however,  are  not  extinct. 

It  is,  I  believe,  more  or  less  an  error  to  think 
that  the  ways  of  the  present  are  very  different  from 
those  of  the  past.  People  who  lead  quiet,  regular 
lives  are  always  imagining  and  declaring  that  the 
wild  ways  of  a  former  generation  have  for  ever  passed 
away.  This  may  possibly  be  the  case  to-day,  but 
it  certainly  was  not  so  a  few  years  ago  in  Dublin, 
where  at  the  now  defunct  Sheridan  Club  scenes  and 
incidents  very  similar  to  those  so  amusingly  described 
by  Irish  novelists  of  the  past  constantly  took  place. 

I  never  remember  having  seen  anything  like  this 
institution  anywhere  else. 

Within  its  hospitable  walls  all  sorts  of  jokes  and 
hoaxes  were  carried  out  by  members  full  of  Celtic 
vivacity  and  humour,  amongst  whom,  of  course,  one 
of  the  proprietors,  the  late  Charles  Barrington — affec- 


74      FANCIES,  FASHIONS,  AND   FADS 

tionately  known  as  C.  B.,  himself  in  many  ways  a 
most  gifted  man — was  easily  first. 

It  was  difficult  to  be  dull  in  the  company  of  this 
joyous  spirit  full  of  originality  and  wit. 

At  the  "Sheridan,"  as  late  as  the  eighties  of  the 
last  century,  could  be  seen  phases  of  the  Irish  life 
pictured  in  the  pages  of  "  Charles  O'Malley,"  "  Harry 
Lorrequer,"  and  other  of  Lever's  enlivening  books. 

Its  membership  then  comprised  a  number  of  real 
characters,  some  rich,  some  poor,  but  all  of  them  more 
or  less  bent  upon  pulling  the  devil  by  the  tail  and 
having  a  good  time ;  and  a  good  time  most  of  them 
certainly  had. 

Except  to  attend  race-meetings,  however,  few  of 
the  frequenters  went  far  afield.  The  Continent 
appealed  to  them  but  little. 

"  What  struck  you  most,  Tim,  in  Paris  and  Rome  ?  " 
a  certain  newly  returned  member  was  asked.  "  Statues 
of  soldiers  and  generals — Caesar  and  Napoleon, 
Napoleon  and  Caesar,  but  I  didn't  see  a  statue  of 

,"  naming  a  well-known  whisky  distiller.  "  Why 

the  devil  should  you  have  done  so?"  "Sure," 
came  back  the  apt  reply,  "  you'll  not  be  denying 
that  he's  killed  more  men  than  the  lot  of  them." 

The  Club  was  full  of  unconventional  members, 
whose  escapades  and  eccentricities  were  typically 
Hibernian. 

One  of  these  had  a  small  streamlet  running  through 
his  domain  into  a  fine  bay  about  two  miles  away. 
Ambitious  to  have  a  yacht  built  from  the  timber  off 
his  own  ground,  he  consulted  an  Irish  country  ship- 


£36,000   OVERDRAWN!  75 

builder  upon  the  best  mode  of  doing  it  on  a  certain 
spot.  The  thing  was  soon  arranged,  a  ship  laid  upon 
the  edge  of  the  brook,  and  a  vessel  begun  and 
finished  in  less  than  a  year  ;  but,  behold  !  when  the 
time  for  launching  the  newly  built  craft  into  the 
river  came,  it  was  found  the  vessel  drew  five  feet 
of  water,  and  there  was  only  one  in  the  river.  The 
gentleman  reproached  the  architect  for  deceiving 
him  :  "  It's  sorry  I  am,"  said  the  old  ship-cooper  ; 
"had  you  ordered  me  to  build  a  ship  upon  the 
Sugarloaf  Mountain  I'd  have  done  it;  but  as  to 
water  for  floating  her  in,  sure  that  was  none  of  my 
business,  but  rested  with  God  Almighty  and  yourself 
to  look  after." 

The  yacht  was  converted  into  a  summer-house. 

Many  queer  tales  of  Irish  landlords  were  to  be 
heard  at  the  "  Sheridan."  Some  of  the  ideas  of  this 
class  as  to  financial  matters  were  very  curious. 

One  old  peer,  who  went  bankrupt,  persisted  in 
tracing  all  his  misfortunes  to  a  certain  bank  manager 
who  had  been  instrumental  in  causing  his  cheques  to 
be  stopped,  merely  because  he  was  some  .£36,000 
overdrawn. 

"  Of  course  I  brought  an  action  against  the  bank," 
said  his  lordship,  "  but  that  rascally  manager,  who 
drove  me  into  the  hands  of  the  moneylenders,  must 
have  got  at  the  jury,  for  I  lost  my  case." 

Nothing  would  ever  soften  this  old  peer's  anger 
against  the  manager  in  question,  who,  as  some  of 
his  friends  frankly  told  him,  had  in  reality  acted 
as  his  best  friend. 


76      FANCIES,   FASHIONS,   AND   FADS 

One  of  the  most  remarkable  characters  at  the 
"  Sheridan  "  was  a  member  who  was  well  known  for 
never  rising  from  lunch  till  seven  in  the  evening. 

At  the  age  of  eighty  this  Irishman  of  the  old 
school  stood  (and  was  elected)  for  Parliament,  the 
reason  he  gave  for  seeking  election  being  that  "  a 
little  change  of  whisky  might  suit  him." 

C.  B.  was  at  his  best  when  expatiating  to  a  visitor 
on  the  attainments  and  merits  of  his  fellow-members. 
He  never  failed  to  point  out  a  Mr.  Rooney,  who, 
he  would  declare,  had  played  whist  thirty-five  years 
and  had  never  yet  been  known  to  make  a  mistake. 

Another  great  whist  -  player  was  Mr.  Bennett 
Little,  a  clever,  well-read  man,  whose  knowledge 
of  Shakespeare  has  probably  never  been  equalled. 
It  used  to  be  said  that  there  was  no  line  of  any 
of  Shakespeare's  plays  to  which,  if  quoted,  he  could 
not  quote  the  next.  Unlike  his  friend  C.  B.,  who 
even  at  whist  was  a  bit  of  a  gambler,  Mr.  Little 
played  for  the  love  of  the  game.  The  latter,  who 
was  a  convert  to  Buddhism,  was  a  highly  cultured 
man  in  many  fields  of  knowledge ;  indeed,  there  was 
no  subject  as  to  which  he  was  not  well  informed — 
a  proof  of  which  was  given  one  evening  at  the 
Rotunda.  During  the  interval  in  a  great  boxing 
tournament  got  up  there  by  the  Trinity  College 
students,  C.  B.,  who  was  unknown  to  most  of  those 
present,  rose  to  his  feet  and  in  his  best  oratorical 
manner  said,  "  Gentlemen,  we  have  seen  a  wonderful 
exposition  of  the  '  noble  art.'  I  think  it  right  to  let 
you  know,  however,  that  there  is  among  us  here 


CAPTAIN   MACHELL  77 

to-night  one  who  being  the  most  wonderful  pugilist 
in  the  world,  is  ready  to  take  on  all  comers." 
This  was  followed  by  loud  cries  of  "Name!" 
from  the  students  and  other  excited  youths. 

"  Since  you  ask  for  his  name,"  continued  C.  B., 
"  I  shall  give  it ;  I  refer  to  my  friend  Mr.  Bennett 
Little." 

The  latter,  who  was  no  boxer,  being  well  used 
to  C.  B.'s  ways,  was  not  at  all  disconcerted  by  the 
loud  cries  of  "  Speech ! "  which  followed.  Getting 
on  to  his  legs,  he  told  the  audience  that  though 
unused  to  fighting,  he  knew  something  of  the  history 
of  the  "  noble  art,"  the  development  of  which,  from 
the  days  of  ancient  Greece  and  Rome  down  to 
those  of  Sayers  and  Heenan,  he  traced  with  such 
consummate  cleverness  that  while  his  address  lasted 
you  could  have  heard  a  pin  drop. 

The  Sheridan  Club  was  originally  started  by  the 
late  Colonel  McCalmont  and  Mr.  Barrington.  At 
first  it  was  located  in  Harcourt  Street,  from  which  it 
was  moved  to  a  house  on  Stephen's  Green.  In  a  way 
the  Sheridan  took  the  place  of  the  old-fashioned  hotels 
which  had  been  social  centres  for  sporting  men  coming 
up  to  Dublin  for  business  or  pleasure.  The  Sheridan, 
however,  was  a  meeting-place  for  Irishmen  from  all 
parts  of  the  country,  whereas  each  of  the  old  hostelries 
used  to  have  a  clientele  drawn  from  a  particular  district 
— from  Limerick,  Galway,  and  the  like. 

Bilton's  Hotel  enjoyed  great  popularity  in  its  day, 
as  did  Mappin's.  It  was  here  that  the  late  Captain 
Machell,  for  a  bet,  performed  the  wonderful  feat 


78      FANCIES,   FASHIONS,   AND   FADS 

of  jumping  on  to  an  old-fashioned  high  narrow 
mantelpiece. 

During  race-meetings  there  was  at  times  a  good  deal 
of  gambling.  I  still  see  in  my  mind's  eye  a  certain 
sporting  character,  noted  for  his  knowledge  of  horse- 
flesh, from  a  somewhat  remote  part  of  Ireland.  Sitting 
down  to  take  a  baccarat  bank,  he  produced  from  his 
capacious  pockets  two  bags  filled  with  gold,  almost 
exactly  resembling  those  pictured  by  Cruikshank  in 
one  of  his  famous  illustrations  to  Harrison  Ainsworth's 
"  Miser's  Daughter."  On  such  evenings  as  there  was 
play  the  room  was  usually  filled  with  a  crowd  of  high- 
spirited  and  amusing  Irishmen,  apt  at  witticism  and 
repartee  ;  the  scene  was  one  which  could  have  been 
witnessed  nowhere  else  than  in  Ireland.  Very  often 
what  seemed  to  the  uninitiated  visitor  terrible  rows 
used  to  occur.  A  good  half  of  these  rows,  it  should 
be  added,  were  not  quarrels  at  all,  but  merely  hoaxes 
got  up  to  take  in  other  members,  or  more  usually 
visitors.  Supper,  late  at  night  or  early  in  the 
morning,  usually  consisting  of  champagne  and  grilled 
bones,  was  a  go-as-you-please  entertainment,  songs 
being  often  sung  as  only  the  Irish,  with  their 
inimitable  gift  of  humour  and  pathos,  can  sing  them. 

The  old  head  waiter  was  a  regular  institution  at  the 
Sheridan  and,  as  such,  highly  privileged. 

On  one  occasion,  in  the  small  hours  of  the  morning, 
when  the  supper-table  had  been  cleared  for  baccarat 
and  the  game  was  in  full  swing,  one  of  the  players 
having  left  the  room  for  a  few  minutes,  old  "Richard," 
with  the  remark  "  that  after  waiting  for  forty  years  he 


NO   BACCARAT!  79 

didn't  see  why  he  shouldn't  have  some  fun,"  sat  down 
in  the  vacant  place,  and  was  only  induced  to  get  up  by 
C.  B.  sternly  exercising  his  authority  and  kicking  him 
out  of  the  room. 

Bad  language  was  prohibited  in  the  Sheridan,  and  a 
certain  Major  having  aroused  C.  B.'s  ire  by  swearing, 
the  latter  told  the  cashier  to  return  the  offender  his 
subscription.  The  Major  having  gone  off  with  the 
money,  it  suddenly  struck  C.  B.  to  inquire  whether 
the  subscription  had  ever  been  paid.  "Oh  no,  sir; 
not  for  five  years!"  was  the  reply.  C.  B.  was  off 
after  the  Major  like  a  shot,  caught  him,  and  won  all 
the  subscriptions  back  at  billiards. 

C.  B.  could  never  resist  a  good  game  of  cards. 
This  was  never  better  exhibited  than  during  one 
evening  at  the  Sheridan  when  he  himself  took  the 
lead  in  breaking  his  own  rules. 

This  happened  at  a  period  when  a  wave  of  Puri- 
tanism had  swept  over  the  club.  The  intermittent 
games  of  baccarat  played  there  had  attracted  atten- 
tion, with  the  result  that  C.  B.,  after  a  consultation 
with  his  co-proprietor,  decided  that  the  illegal  game 
must  be  rigorously  prohibited. 

Accordingly,  on  a  certain  evening  members  were 
surprised  to  see  the  club  placarded  with  notices  stating, 
"No  baccarat  allowed."  A  party  of  rather  wild 
fellows,  however,  determined  not  to  be  beat  by  what 
they  called  a  piece  of  damned  nonsense,  and,  going 
upstairs,  called  for  cards  as  usual.  The  steward,  how- 
ever, refused  to  provide  any  packs,  and,  finding  neither 
threats,  entreaties,  nor  blandishments  of  any  use,  the 


80      FANCIES,   FASHIONS,   AND   FADS 

party  adjourned  to  the  whist-room,  where  C.  B.  and 
his  co-proprietor  were  indulging  in  a  quiet  rubber. 
Here,  at  least  they  must  be  given  cards,  and,  having 
obtained  the  required  number  of  packs,  the  leader 
of  the  band  sat  down  and  said,  "  A  pony  in  the 
bank."  The  co-proprietor  of  the  club  at  once  told 
him  to  stop,  at  the  same  time  drawing  C.  B.'s  atten- 
tion to  the  fact  that  in  spite  of  the  new  regulations 
which  he  had  so  warmly  supported  baccarat  was  about 
to  be  played. 

"  Monstrous!"  said  C.  B.  "  I  must  see  to  this  at 
once."  Rising  from  the  whist  table  with  great  dignity, 
he  strode  over  to  the  lawbreakers  and  in  a  stern  voice 
said,  "  What  are  you  doing  ?  What's  going  on  ?  " 

"  What's  going  on  ?  "  replied  the  banker.  "  Why, 
there's  fifty  pounds  in  the  bank." 

"  Banco,"  said  C.  B.,  and,  having  lost,  he  continued 
to  play,  with  the  ultimate  result  that  he  did  not  leave 
the  baccarat  table  till  between  seven  and  eight  the 
next  morning. 

His  co-proprietor  was  furious  with  rage  at  all  this, 
and  determined  to  pay  out  C.  B.  for  his  laxness. 
Accordingly,  when  the  old  man  at  length  did  come 
downstairs,  he  found  himself  surrounded  by  several 
members,  his  colleague  at  their  head. 

"  Well,  C.  B.,"  they  shouted,  "  you've  had  your  bac- 
carat ;  now  you're  going  to  have  a  Turkish  bath." 
11  Poor  old  C.  B.  never  takes  one,"  was  the  reply. 
"  Never  mind,  he's  going  to  this  morning,"  shouted 
the  crowd,  and  in  due  course  C.  B.  was  huddled  into 
a  four-wheeler  and  driven  off  to  the  baths,  where,  after 


A   MYSTERIOUS   BOTTLE  81 

he  had  undressed,  his  companions,  having  hung 
him  all  over  with  his  own  placards,  "  No  baccarat 
allowed,"  ran  him  round  the  place,  one  of  their  number 
flicking  him  with  the  cabman's  whip,  much  to  the  sur- 
prise and  consternation  of  the  attendants.  Poor  old 
C.  B.  was  much  too  tired  to  make  any  effectual  protest. 

C.  B.,  notwithstanding  his  constant  complaints  that 
he  was  a  poor  old  man  whom  every  one  got  the  best 
of,  was  seldom  caught  napping.  On  one  occasion, 
however,  he  was  fairly  served  out.  He  himself 
delighted  in  telling  the  story. 

He  had  taken  a  shooting  with  a  friend,  and 
undertook  to  look  after  the  housekeeping  at  their 
shooting  lodge.  Some  good  brown  sherry  formed 
part  of  the  supplies  which  he  laid  in,  a  bottle  always 
standing  on  the  sideboard. 

After  a  week  or  so  it  was  observed  that  even  when 
no  one  had  drunk  any  sherry  the  bottle  in  question 
was  never  more  than  two-thirds  full.  C.  B.  pointed 
this  out  to  his  friend,  and  said  to  him,  "It's  that 
rascally  butler  of  mine.  You  see  how  I'll  serve  him 
out."  He  then  took  the  bottle  and  having  filled  it 
up  with  slops,  "  I  fancy  one  glass  of  that  will  settle 
him,"  said  he,  as  he  replaced  it  on  the  sideboard. 

One  glass,  however,  did  not  seem  to  have  "  settled 
him,"  for  at  dinner  the  next  evening  the  butler,  a 
quiet  and  good  servant,  was  just  as  calm  as  ever, 
while  the  bottle,  as  before,  was  only  two-thirds 
full. 

Neither  C.  B.  nor  his  friend  could  make  it  out,  and 
finally,  when  dinner  was  over,  they  determined  to 


82      FANCIES,   FASHIONS,   AND   FADS 

thrash  the  matter  out.  Accordingly  they  sent  for  the 
butler. 

"What  have  you  been  doing  with  the  sherry?" 
demanded  C.  B.  "The  bottle  was  full  this  morning; 
we  haven't  touched  a  drop,  and  a  third  of  it  is  gone." 

"  Yes,"  said  the  butler,  "  I  put  three  glasses  in  your 
soup.  Ever  since  we  came  here  I  have  done  so. 
The  cook  makes  such  poor  weak  stuff,  I  thought  it 
best  to  give  it  some  flavour." 

The  feelings  of  C.  B.  and  his  friend,  who  had 
unwittingly  swallowed  so  much  nastiness,  may  be 
imagined. 

C.  B.  possessed  quite  marvellous  resource.  No 
man  better  than  he  knew  how  to  get  out  of  an  awkward 
predicament  or  scrape.  One  of  the  most  striking 
proofs  of  this  was  the  way  in  which  he  once  avoided 
having  a  serious  quarrel  with  an  old  friend. 

This  gentleman,  though  none  too  well  endowed 
with  the  world's  goods,  was,  like  C.  B.,  very  fond  of 
an  occasional  game.  One  evening  when  baccarat  was 
being  played  he  began  bidding  for  a  bank,  and 
eventually  secured  one  for  a  hundred  pounds. 

C.  B.,  who  was  in  the  room,  knowing  that  his 
friend  could  ill  afford  to  risk  such  a  sum,  showed 
signs  of  strong  disapproval,  and  during  play  went  and 
stood  behind  the  banker.  When  the  latter  had  lost 
the  first  hundred  pounds  and  said  he  would  renew, 
C.  B.  became  more  and  more  anxious.  Finally,  after 
two  more  renewals,  he  could  not  restrain  himself  any 
longer,  and  abandoning  all  muttered  admonitions 
said  : 


C.   B.    WITHDRAWS  83 

"  Don't  be  a  fool,  old  boy,  you  know  very  well  you 
can't  afford  to  lose  so  much." 

Upon  this  the  banker,  who  was  naturally  sore  from 
losing,  turning  round  in  his  chair,  told  C.  B.  he  was 
a  liar. 

"Gentlemen,"  then  said  the  latter,  putting  on  his 
dignified  air,  "  owing  to  the  opprobrious  term  which 
has  just  been  applied  to  me  I  shall  withdraw."  In 
the  most  solemn  manner  in  the  world  he  then  went 
downstairs  to  the  supper-room,  where  a  heated  dis- 
cussion as  to  the  outrage  took  place  between  him  and 
several  sympathisers.  Every  one  agreed  that  such  an 
insult  could  never  be  atoned  for,  and  matters  seemed 
about  to  take  a  most  serious  turn. 

Half  an  hour  later  down  came  the  banker  with  his 
friends,  the  party  seating  themselves  at  a  table  not 
very  far  away. 

They  also  discussed  the  affair,  the  offender  and 
offended  being  close  enough  to  hear  what  one  another 
were  saying. 

"He  called  me  a  liar  before  you  all,  before  my 
friends — I  can  never  forgive  such  an  insult,"  C.  B. 
kept  repeating. 

"  What's  the  use  of  calling  you  a  liar  before  your 
friends?"  retorted  the  banker;  "they  know  you're 
one." 

C.  B.  heard  these  words,  but  the  rest  of  his  party, 
who  were  engaged  in  earnest  discussion,  did  not  very 
well  catch  what  had  been  said.  C.  B.  noticed  this, 
and  quick  as  lightning  said  : 

"Very  well,  under  the  circumstances,  I  will  accept 


84      FANCIES,   FASHIONS,   AND   FADS 

your  apology."  Though  nothing  of  the  sort  had  ever 
been  offered,  every  one  except  C.  B.  and  the  man 
who  had  insulted  him  thought  it  had.  With  great 
dignity  and  betraying  some  signs  of  emotion,  C.  B.  went 
and  shook  the  latter  by  the  hand,  and  the  evening 
ended  amidst  general  harmony  and  good  fellowship. 
On  the  whole  I  do  not  think  much  harm  was 
done  by  the  gambling ;  most  of  the  players,  indeed, 
were  very  wide  awake  and  well  able  to  take  care 
of  themselves. 

All  sorts  of  tales  were  current  as  to  the  stratagems 
of  certain  wily  spirits  anxious  to  retire  after  a 
good  run  of  luck. 

On  one  occasion  an  old  and  very  popular  gambler, 
having  won  about  three  hundred  pounds  at  loo, 
was,  to  the  consternation  of  his  fellow-players,  seen 
to  reel  in  his  chair  and  collapse  upon  the  floor, 
his  eyes  closed  and  his  limbs  gave  convulsive  move- 
ments of  a  very  alarming  character. 

"  Poor  old  chap !  after  all  he's  died  in  harness," 
cried  his  fellow-players  as  they  mournfully  carried 
him  out  of  the  room.  The  sufferer,  however,  while 
being  driven  home  seemed  to  rally  slightly,  but 
his  fellow-players — at  least  such  as  were  strange  to 
Dublin  ways — never  expected  to  see  him  again. 
What,  then,  was  their  surprise  upon  'a  subsequent 
visit  a  month  later  to  find  the  invalid,  who,  they 
believed,  must  either  be  paralysed  for  life  or  dead, 
sitting  at  the  card  table  as  blithe  and  vivacious 
as  a  boy  of  twenty.  Once  more  they  played  loo 
with  him  and  once  more  they  lost.  When  he  had 


A   TERRIBLE   HOAX  85 

won  something  over  two  hundred  and  fifty  pounds 
the  alarming  symptoms  again  supervened ;  but  this 
time  a  different  mode  of  treatment  was  adopted. 
Betaking  themselves  to  the  lavatory,  two  of  the 
most  stalwart  losers  returned  laden  with  enormous 
cans  of  cold  water,  which  they  poured  over  the 
prostrate  and  twitching  form  of  the  invalid  till  he 
was  soused  through  and  through  from  head  to  foot. 
At  last,  being  able  to  stand  it  no  longer,  with  the 
remark  that  he  would  change  his  clothes  and  go 
to  bed,  he  got  up  and  left  the  room  with  all  the 
sang-froid  in  the  world. 

In  addition  to  being  full  of  all  sorts  of  original 
ways,  C.  B.  was  a  rare  sporting  character  of  the 
old  school.  On  one  occasion,  in  company  with 
another  queer  celebrity  well  known  at  the  Sheridan 
("  Colorado "  Hewson),  he  walked  in  evening  dress 
and  pumps  nine  miles  within  an  appointed  time, 
by  doing  which  the  pair  won  a  considerable  sum. 
This  walk,  it  should  be  added,  took  place  about 
two  in  the  morning  as  the  result  of  a  wager  laid  the 
same  evening  at  supper. 

"  Colorado  "  Hewson  obtained  his  nickname  owing 
to  having  passed  a  certain  time  in  America,  where 
he  had  had  many  curious  adventures,  one  of  which, 
terrible  if  comic,  was  said  to  have  turned  his  hair  grey. 

While  out  prospecting  and  taken  to  see  a  mine, 
he  was  told  to  take  great  care  in  making  a  descent 
in  a  rough  lift.  Of  a  sudden  his  companions  at  the 
top  shouted  to  him  to  clamber  out  and  clutch  hold 
of  a  bar  he  would  find  fixed  to  the  rocks  at  the  side. 


86      FANCIES,   FASHIONS,   AND   FADS 

Something,  they  added,  had  gone  wrong  with  the 
lift,  which,  to  his  horror,  then  swiftly  flew  up,  all 
lights  being  extinguished.  From  the  top  of  the  shaft 
he  now  heard  shouts  urging  him  to  hold  on  like  grim 
death,  for  below  him  lay  a  chasm  five  hundred  feet 
deep.  Though  constantly  encouraged  by  shouts  and 
cries,  no  help  came.  The  tension  of  holding  on 
with  certain  destruction  beneath  his  feet,  combined 
with  the  physical  exhaustion  of  the  effort,  quite 
exhausted  the  poor  man,  and,  after  a  considerable 
time,  which  seemed  like  eternity  itself,  yielding  to 
fatigue  he  let  go,  resigned  to  drop  into  the  jaws 
of  death. 

He  fell  exactly  a  foot,  the  bottom  of  the  shaft  being, 
in  reality,  just  beneath  his  feet.  The  mental  strain 
engendered  by  this  mischievous  and  cruel  joke  turned 
Hewson's  hair  grey. 

This  adventure,  which  would  have  sobered  many 
a  weaker  man,  had  had  little  effect  upon  a  naturally 
genial  disposition.  Hewson,  indeed,  had  many  an 
amusing  tale  to  tell  of  his  adventures  in  America, 
where  at  one  time,  he  declared,  he  had  run  a  show, 
the  financial  ruin  of  which  was  brought  about  by  the 
arrest  of  his  principal  attraction,  "  The  Great  Human 
Opticon,"  for  debt. 

He  had  many  stories  of  the  shrewd  ways  of  various 
people  he  had  met  in  Colorado,  a  country,  he  said, 
where  every  man  and  boy  was  able  to  track  an  old 
hen  ten  miles  over  pebbles. 

Though  a  very  amusing  companion  at  social  gather- 
ings, Hewson,  who,  as  the  old  saying  goes,  "only 


THE   FLOWER   OF  DUNBLANE       87 

knew  two  tunes,  one  of  which  was  '  God  Save  the 
Queen  '  and  the  other  wasn't,"  unlike  C.  B.,  had  not 
a  note  of  music  in  his  composition.  The  musical 
evenings  at  the  Sheridan  were  at  one  time  one 
of  the  features  of  the  place  ;  a  great  deal  of  talent 
was  to  be  heard  there.  Colonel  L' Estrange,  as  a 
singer  and  player,  could  not  be  beaten  at  the  piano. 
When  distinguished  actors  came  to  Dublin  special 
suppers  were  organized  for  them.  Irving  and  Toole 
were  the  most  popular  guests,  the  recitation  of 
"  Eugene  Aram "  by  the  former  never  failing  to 
evoke  tumultuous  applause.  Every  one  who  was 
able  was  expected  to  sing  or  play  at  these  entertain- 
ments, which  were  constantly  enlivened  by  the  songs 
of  the  late  Mr.  Bob  Martin  ("  Ballyhooley  ")  and  the 
recitations  of  Mr.  Johnnie  Parker,  one  of  the  most 
amusing  members  of  the  Sheridan — a  most  original 
character  with  a  wonderful  memory  and  a  good  voice. 
His  "  Robinson  Crusoe  "  was  a  thing  never  to  forget. 

A  wonder  at  singing  and  playing  the  piano  was 
Jerry  Perry,  who,  some  declared,  could  beat  all  the 
world  at  a  comic  song — no  entertainment  at  the 
Sheridan  was  complete  without  him. 

C.  B.  himself  was  full  of  music,  and  had  a  very 
good,  high  baritone  voice.  It  was  worth  going  a 
long  way  to  hear  him  sing  "  Jessie,  the  Flower  of 
Dunblane."  He  possessed,  in  a  great  degree,  that 
peculiarly  Irish  gift  of  humour  and  pathos  which 
was  one  of  the  causes  of  his  success  as  an  after-dinner 
speaker. 

The  talent  at  the  Sheridan  evenings  was,  as  a  rule 


88      FANCIES,   FASHIONS,   AND   FADS 

entirely  amateur.  On  one  occasion,  however,  C.  B., 
having  invited  a  number  of  officers  of  the  Scots 
Guards  to  dinner,  told  them  that  Captain  Kelly,  of 
the  "  Roscommon  Fusiliers,"  was  going  to  drop  in 
later.  About  9.30  the  gallant  officer  in  question 
arrived,  and  vastly  entertained  every  one  by  his 
excellent  playing  of  the  banjo.  All  the  officers 
declared  the  captain  was  a  most  amusing  man  and 
capital  fellow.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  C.  B.  told  them 
the  next  day  he  was  no  captain  at  all,  but  a  man 
who  had  been  hired  from  the  Grafton  Varieties — a 
Dublin  music-hall  of  that  day. 

C.  B.  was  an  excellent  sportsman  and  had  been 
a  keen  hunting  man  in  his  youth.  When  Master  of 
the  Ward  Hunt  Staghounds,  no  rider  was  more 
dashing  than  he,  or  more  popular  with  the  hunt.  As 
a  jockey  he  had  also  had  considerable  success.  He 
won  the  Ward  Hunt  Cup  more  than  once,  and  had 
two  other  racing  cups  on  his  table,  each  of  which 
had  had  to  be  won  three  times  to  become  the  winner's 
own.  Fifteen  years  after  he  had  relinquished  the 
mastership  the  late  Mr.  John  Waldron  came  into 
the  Sheridan  Club  one  evening,  two  days  before  the 
entries  for  the  Ward  Hunt  Races  were  to  close. 
A  discussion  arose  as  to  the  merits  of  various  horses, 
during  which  Mr.  Barrington  broke  in  with  "  Who'll 
bet  poor  old  C.  B."  (the  way  he  always  spoke  of 
himself)  "  that  he  doesn't  win  the  Ward  Hunt  Cup 
this  year  ? "  As  the  entries  were  to  close  in  forty- 
eight  hours,  and  C.  B.  was  known  not  to  have 
possessed  a  horse  for  many  years,  the  challenge 


GREY   MALAHIDE  89 

produced  considerable  amusement.  Several  fantastic 
bets  were  offered,  some  of  the  long  odds  being  at  once, 
however,  taken  by  C.  B.  There  was  much  jeering 
and  laughter,  in  the  midst  of  which  Mr.  Waldron 
exclaimed  :  "  Well,  now,  perhaps  you  would  like  to 
back  yourself  to  ride  the  winner  as  well,  C.  B.  ? 
I'll  lay  you  five  hundred  pounds  to  one  that  you 
don't !  " 

"  Done,"  said  C.  B.,  and,  after  some  more  betting, 
the  evening  ended  amidst  general  merriment. 

As  his  friends  left  the  club-house  they  agreed 
that  age  (he  was  well  over  fifty)  was  beginning  to 
tell  upon  C.  B.  If  he  did  not  stand  to  lose  so 
little  and  win  so  much,  such  bets  as  had  been 
made  seemed  to  them  to  be  almost  unfair.  "  The 
old  man  doesn't  understand  what  he  is  doing,"  was 
the  general  opinion. 

As  it  happened,  however,  the  old  man  understood 
very  well  what  he  was  doing.  Once  the  money  was 
on  he  did  not  waste  an  hour.  Like  a  shot  from 
a  gun  he  left  Dublin  for  a  place  a  hundred  miles 
away,  where  he  knew  of  a  splendid  steeplechaser, 
Grey  Malahide  by  name,  he  bought  and  entered  it. 
On  the  appointed  day  C.  B.  was  at  the  post  in 
capital  trim.  Before  the  start  his  chances  of  winning 
became  much  fancied,  and  no  more  than  even  money 
could  be  obtained  against  the  redoubtable  Grey 
Malahide  and  his  plucky  rider. 

Though  the  three  and  a  half  miles  of  the  race 
must  have  been  a  great  effort  for  C.  B.,  who  had 
not  been  on  a  horse  for  so  many  years,  he  rode 


90      FANCIES,   FASHIONS,  AND  FADS 

with  the  greatest  determination  and  judgment,  finally 
coming  in  a  winner  by  fifteen  lengths,  amidst  a 
scene  of  enthusiasm  such  as  has  hardly  ever  been 
witnessed,  even  on  an  Irish  racecourse. 

The  whole  thing  was  a  wonderful  performance. 

As  a  young  man  C.  B.,  when  out  with  hounds, 
could  never  bear  to  be  beaten,  and  one  day,  out 
hunting  with  the  Cheshire,  the  Master  became  very 
irascible  at  seeing  the  dashing  Irishman,  whom  he 
did  not  know,  pressing  too  close  upon  the  hounds. 

"Hold  hard!"  shouted  old  Corbet.  "Hold  hard, 
you  damned  tailor  !  " 

"  I  beg  your  pardon,  sir.  Not  a  tailor,"  retorted 
C.  B.  ;  "a  soap-boiler  from  Dublin."  This  was 
to  some  degree  true,  for  at  the  time  he  was  a 
partner  in  a  firm  of  wholesale  soap  and  candle 
merchants. 

When  a  very  fit  young  man,  C.  B.,  thinking  he 
would  like  to  do  some  mountaineering,  set  out  for 
Zermatt — he  had  heard  that  the  Eiger  had  never 
yet  been  ascended,  and  consequently  thought  it 
would  be  the  very  place  for  him. 

Having  engaged  two  guides,  he  started  on  the 
ascent  early  one  morning,  but  when  he  got  some- 
where near  the  top  the  men  refused  to  go  on. 
C.  B.,  however,  finished  the  climb  by  himself  and 
planted  his  alpenstock  on  the  summit,  with  his 
handkerchief  tied  to  its  head. 

When  he  got  back  to  the  hotel  and  told  the 
people  there  of  his  adventure,  they  declined  to 
believe  him.  "Well,  look  for  yourselves,"  said  C.  B., 


WELL   BOUND   AT   THE   LAST        91 

and,  sure  enough,  when  they  put  their  glasses  up 
there  was  the  alpenstock  and  the  handkerchief. 

This  feat  of  C.  B.'s,  it  should  be  added,  is 
mentioned  in  Mr.  Whymper's  book,  but  by  a 
mistake  the  name  "  Harrington "  has  been  sub- 
stituted for  "  Barrington." 

About  the  best  epitaph  which  could  be  written 
for  this  genial  and  original  Irishman  would  be  some 
lines  from  Pierce  Egan's  farewell  to  one  of  his 
best  characters,  Bob  Logic. 

Of  Charles  Barrington,  as  of  the  witty  Oxonian, 
it  may  well  be  said  that  mirth  and  good  humour 
were  always  at  his  elbows.  He  certainly  played 
the  first  fiddle  in  all  companies  and  was  never  out 
of  tune.  Mankind  had  been  C.  B.'s  study,  and  he 
had  thoroughly  perused  the  book  of  life.  As  a 
choice  spirit  he  was  unequalled,  and  as  a  sincere 
friend  never  excelled ;  above  all,  he  was  under  all 
circumstances  a  man.  Let  us  hope  that  the  Great 
Auditor  of  Accounts  will  find  poor  C.  B.'s  balance- 
sheet  correct,  and,  as  the  whole  tenor  of  his  life 
had  been  a  volume  of  pleasure  that  it  will  be  well 
bound  at  the  last. 


IV 

RESTAURANTS 

THERE  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  general 
level  of  cooking  in  London  has  been  improved 
by  the  modern  restaurant.  Before  the  days  of 
that  Napoleon  among  hotel-keepers — M.  Ritz — few 
private  dinners  were  really  well  chosen  or  well  cooked ; 
now,  amongst  wealthy  people  at  least,  culinary  matters 
are  dealt  with  in  a  satisfactory — one  might  even  say, 
artistic — style. 

Our  more  remote  ancestors  do  not  appear  to  have 
understood  gastronomy,  for  when  Cardinal  Campeggio 
came  to  England  in  connexion  with  the  divorce  of 
Catherine  of  Aragon,  his  report  to  his  master  the 
Pope,  who  had  instructed  him  to  make  an  exhaustive 
investigation  into  the  state  of  English  culinary  affairs, 
was  merely  two  words,  "  Niente  affatto."  There  was 
nothing  whatever  to  report  about  English  cookery. 

During  the  mid- Victorian  period,  when  there  was  a 
partiality  for  quantity  rather  than  quality  in  food, 
culinary  matters'had  sunk  to  a  very  low  ebb,  though, 
of  course,  there  were  always  a  select  few  who  pre- 
served the  great  gastronomic  traditions  of  a  more 


TAVERNS   AND   COFFEE-HOUSES      93 

critical  age.  Our  ancestors  of  the  eighteenth  and 
early  nineteenth  century  were  very  particular  about 
having  nothing  but  excellent  material.  A  little  over  a 
hundred  years  ago  the  catering  for  dinners  was  good  ; 
not  only  in  London  itself  but  in  suburbs  such  as 
Highgate,  Hampstead,  Chelsea,  Greenwich,  Putney, 
Twickenham,  and  Richmond,  were  taverns  which 
provided  good  dinners  and  excellent  wines. 

Gradually,  however,  as  the  old-fashioned  coffee- 
houses and  taverns  closed  their  doors,  and  with  the 
abandonment  of  leisurely  ways,  owing  to  increased 
competition,  people  in  business  at  least  became  care- 
less about  what  they  ate.  The  result  affected  all  but 
the  most  wealthy  class,  and  a  good  lunch  or  dinner 
except  at  one's  own  home  became  difficult  to  procure. 

In  the  early  seventies  an  observant  visitor  to  the 
Metropolis  wrote  :  "  It  must  be  confessed  that  there  is 
no  continental  capital  so  poorly  provided  as  London 
with  establishments  where  the  stranger  may  obtain  a 
fairly  good  dinner  for  a  small  sum,  or  an  excellent 
dinner  for  a  great  price.  In  the  western  districts  of 
the  town,  millionaires  and  spendthrifts  may  fare 
delicately,  as  well  as  sumptuously,  at  the  few  private 
hotels  which  draw  their  prodigious  profits  from  a  small 
class  of  luxurious  and  opulent  visitors.  But  to  test 
the  capabilities  of  the  chef  retained  in  any  one  of 
these  exclusive  and  decorous  taverns,  it  is  necessary 
that  the  curious  inquirer  should  take  an  apartment 
and  attain  the  status  of  a  guest  '  staying  in  the  house.' 
Even  when  he  places  a  coffee-room  at  the  service  of 
casual  visitors,  the  keeper  of  a  private  hotel  is  little 


94      FANCIES,   FASHIONS,   AND   FADS 

studious  to  please  callers  who  only  'drop  in  for  dinner' 
before  going  to  the  opera." 

At  that  time,  except  at  one  or  two  resorts  such  as 
the  Cafe"  Royale,  French  cookery  was  not  to  be 
obtained.  A  few  small  Italian  restaurants  existed 
about  Leicester  Square  and  Soho,  but  except  for 
these  there  was  nothing  but  the  old-fashioned  chop- 
houses,  whose  arrangements,  though  acceptable 
enough  to  early  Victorian  people,  were  quite  unsuit- 
able to  the  needs  of  a  more  luxurious  generation.  At 
antiquated  hotels  of  the  Covent  Garden  quarter  and 
in  some  of  the  principal  thoroughfares  between  the 
City  and  Hyde  Park,  there  were  quantities  of  dingy 
coffee-rooms  where  a  substantial  dinner  from  the  joint 
and  a  pint  of  inferior  wine  might  be  obtained  for  eight 
or  ten  shillings. 

The  Strand  and  Fleet  Street  also  abounded  in 
long,  low,  dirty  rooms  where  economical  feeders, 
seated  on  the  narrow  benches  of  a  dozen  or  more 
little  pews,  could  satisfy  their  hunger  with  plates  of 
meat  and  vegetables  in  the  din  and  heat  of  company 
three  times  too  numerous  for  the  space.  There  were 
also  a  number  of  modern,  flashy,  pretentious  dining- 
rooms,  where,  in  saloons  splendid  with  cheap  gilding 
and  fly-flecked  plate-glass  mirrors,  a  weary  mortal 
might  get  a  piece  of  fish,  a  cut  from  a  lukewarm  joint, 
and  a  bottle  of  thin  claret  at  an  exorbitant  charge. 
While  the  dining  accommodation  for  even  wealthy 
people  was  inadequate,  the  lower  middle  and  working 
classes  were  catered  for  in  a  quite  execrable  manner, 
and  practically  forced  into  the  public-house.  In  the 


OLD   ENGLISH    DINNERS  95 

early  eighties  of  the  last  century,  however,  quite  a 
stir  was  caused  in  philanthropic  and  temperance 
circles  by  the  starting  of  what  were  called  coffee- 
taverns  in  many  towns  in  England.  Among  the 
promoters  were  Lord  Shaftesbury  and  the  Baroness 
Burdett-Coutts.  All  bright  anticipations  as  to  those 
places  proving  successful  rivals  to  the  ordinary  public- 
house  were,  however,  doomed  to  swift  disappointment. 
Like  so  many  other  enthusiastically  welcomed  schemes 
for  the  improvement  of  the  people,  their  failure  was 
complete.  The  causes  were  not  far  to  seek.  The 
refreshments  were  bad,  the  attendants  slovenly,  and 
the  coffee  execrable.  I  remember  one  being  started 
at  Eton  when  I  was  at  school  there,  and  at  first  it 
was  a  good  deal  patronized  by  Etonians.  When, 
however,  the  novelty  wore  off  the  boys  fought  shy  of 
it,  and  before  I  left,  for  some  reason  or  other,  we  were 
forbidden  to  enter  it  at  all.  The  worthy  founders  of 
these  coffee-taverns  were  probably  not  happy  in  their 
selection  of  managers  and  other  servants,  looking 
more  for  piety  than  business  capabilities.  At  any 
rate,  with  very  few  exceptions,  most  of  the  new 
ventures  were  ghastly  failures. 

At  that  time,  though  elaborate  cookery  was  rather 
difficult  to  get,  there  were  one  or  two  small,  old- 
fashioned,  rather  expensive  eating-houses  which  had 
a  great  reputation  for  providing  a  first-class  old 
English  dinner — chops,  steaks,  and  old  port.  About 
the  best  of  these  comfortable  little  resorts  was  the  "  Blue 
Posts,"  but  far  away  was  the  "  Bristol,"  then  a  great 
Cork  Street  resort  of  men  about  town  for  lunch  and 


96      FANCIES,   FASHIONS,   AND   FADS 

dinner.  It  was  situated  almost  opposite  the  late  Sam 
Lewis's  famous  bow-window,  and  expectant  heirs 
short  of  ready  money  seemed  to  have  a  particular 
fondness  for  the  place.  Sam  himself  also  was  not  an 
infrequent  visitor  at  luncheon,  and  at  one  time  ephe- 
meral celebrities,  such  as  the  poor  Jubilee  Juggins, 
were  regular  features  of  the  place.  The  cooking  was 
quite  good,  but  the  arrangements  primitive.  There 
was  no  foyer,  and  those  bringing  ladies  to  dine  had  to 
wait  for  them  in  the  small  hotel  smoking-room.  Till 
the  creation  of  the  far  more  pretentious  restaurant,  as 
we  see  it  to-day,  the  "  Bristol  "  did  very  well,  but  with 
the  opening  of  the  "  Savoy  "  it  began  to  lose  its  popu- 
larity. It  has  now  been  closed  as  a  restaurant  for  a 
good  many  years. 

The  original  Savoy  restaurant  was  certainly  one  of 
the  most  agreeable  dining-places  the  world  has  ever 
seen,  for  in  addition  to  the  excellent  food  the  eye  was 
gratified  by  hosts  of  pretty  women.  Compared  to  the 
present  palatial  dining-halls,  it  was,  of  course,  quite  a 
small  place,  but  those  who  remember  the  halcyon  days 
of  1895  will  agree  that  nothing  so  bright  and  pleasant 
has  been  seen  since.  Few,  alas,  of  the  habitual 
frequenters  who  waited  in  the  little  passage  (on  the 
walls  of  which  hung  framed  the  first  sovereign  ever 
taken  at  the  Savoy)  while  (after  the  manner  of  her 
kind)  a  fair  companion  lingered  in  the  cloak-room, 
are  still  enlivening  the  West  End,  the  fall  in  stocks 
and  shares  which  followed  the  South  African  War 
sent  many  of  them  to  far  less  amusing  places. 

Most  of  the  fair  companions  also  now  probably  dine 


THE   OLD   SAVOY  97 

amid  less  luxurious  and  more  sedate  surroundings.  A 
few  survivors,  however,  either  making  a  brave  fight 
against  the  hand  of  Time,  or  philosophically  content  to 
be  frankly  middle-aged,  are  still  occasionally  to  be 
observed  revisiting  the  scene  of  their  lively  youth. 

While  the  food  and  company  made  a  strong  appeal 
to  habitues  of  the  old  Savoy,  the  decoration  of  th. 
original  restaurant  might  justly  have  been  called 
artistic,  the  general  scheme  of  the  room  having  been 
designed,  I  believe,  by  Whistler.  The  mahogany 
inlaid  panelling,  removed  some  years  ago  to  make 
way  for  the  present  nondescript  white  woodwork,  was 
very  agreeable  to  the  eye.  This  panelling,  I  believe, 
is  still  owned  by  the  Savoy  Company,  who,  it  is  said, 
have  been  offered  as  much  as  ,£6,000  for  it. 

The  reason  for  changing  the  interior  of  the 
restaurant  was,  I  understand,  an  idea  that  the  public 
grow  tired  of  lunching  or  dining  amidst  the  same 
surroundings ;  all  people  of  artistic  taste,  however, 
regretted  the  alteration. 

The  crowd  which  frequented  the  old  Savoy  was 
much  more  Bohemian  than  that  which  is  to  be  seen 
there  to-day,  but  care  was  taken  to  exclude  any 
visitors  likely  to  disturb  the  harmony  which  always 
prevailed  there.  Restaurants,  I  believe,  have  no 
legal  right  to  refuse  to  serve  any  one,  no  matter  how 
he  or  she  is  dressed,  if  sober  ;  and  according  to  the 
strict  letter  of  the  law  there  is  nothing  to  prevent  a 
navvy  from  entering  the  Savoy,  Carlton,  or  Ritz, 
sitting  down  at  a  table  and  eating  a  lunch  there. 
This  legal  obligation,  however,  is,  in  the  case  of 


98      FANCIES,   FASHIONS,   AND   FADS 

persons  for  any  reason  undesirable  in  a  first-class 
restaurant,  surmounted  by  the  manager  declaring  all 
the  tables  to  be  full.  This  very  old  trick  was  in 
former  days  carried  to  its  farthest  limits  at  Stephen's 
Hotel  in  Bond  Street,  a  very  fashionable  and  exclu- 
sive resort  which,  in  its  best  days,  was  chiefly  fre- 
quented by  smart  officers  and  men  about  town,  who 
resented  the  intrusion  of  any  one  not  of  their  set. 
Consequently,  if  a  stranger  came  in  to  dine  there  he 
was  stared  at  by  the  waiters  like  a  wild  beast,  and 
solemnly  assured  that  all  the  tables  had  been  engaged 
beforehand. 

People  are  always  lamenting  the  disappearance  of 
spontaneous  fun  and  unconventional  ways.  Genera- 
tion after  generation  of  Londoners  tells  stories  of  a 
more  amusing  London  which  it  has  never  known ! 

About  1895,  however,  at  the  height  of  the  South 
African  boom,  the  London  of  the  pleasure-seeker  was 
certainly  gayer  and  more  animated  than  it  had  been 
for  years.  Stockbrokers,  when  things  are  good,  are 
notoriously  very  open-handed,  and  quite  a  number  of 
them,  who  had  made  fortunes  in  no  time,  threw  their 
money  about  like  water. 

The  "  Pinafore  "  and  other  private  rooms  were  often 
used  for  vivacious  dinner-parties.  Here  it  was  that  a 
gorgeous  repast  was  given  by  a  well-known  South 
African  financier  to  celebrate  his  triumph  at  Monte 
Carlo,  where  he  had  won  a  considerable  sum  by 
backing  the  red. 

Some  of  the  ladies  who  were  constantly  to  be  seen 
at  supper  were  not  so  decorous  in  their  behaviour  as 


A   PRACTICAL   JOKE  99 

their  successors  of  to-day.  I  remember  one  pretty 
girl  who,  by  way  of  paying  out  her  attendant  cavalier, 
who  had  been  giving  her  a  scolding,  seized  a  cham- 
pagne bottle  and  raised  it  to  her  lips,  of  course  to  the 
great  scandal  and  horror  of  those  at  tables  close  by. 

Music  during  meals  was  then  an  innovation,  and 
humming  and  whistling  softly  to  the  music  of  the 
band,  which  in  those  days  played  inside  the  dining- 
room,  was  a  well-known  way  of  irritating  the  manager  ; 
one  or  two  mischievous  little  ladies  brought  the  art 
of  modulating  their  tones,  according  to  his  proximity 
to  their  table,  pretty  near  perfection. 

Practical  jokes  were  frequent.  The  most  amusing 
of  these  I  always  thought  was  that  played  by  a  well- 
known  man  about  town  (now  a  Member  of  Parlia- 
ment) at  the  Covent  Garden  Ball,  which  was  then 
highly  popular  with  the  jeunesse  dorde. 

Taking  a  box  on  the  second  tier,  he  filled  it  with  a 
large  party,  into  the  centre  of  which  he  smuggled  a 
most  lifelike  dummy  of  the  late  Sir  Augustus  Harris, 
at  that  time  lessee  of  Covent  Garden. 

This  dummy,  worked  from  behind,  was  made  to 
perform  such  antics  that  a  crowd  soon  assembled 
below,  astounded  and  scandalized  to  see  such 
behaviour  on  the  part  of  the  well-known  manager, 
who  at  intervals  appeared  to  be  toasting  those  below. 
All  of  a  sudden  an  altercation  seemed  to  arise,  and 
Sir  Augustus  was  seen  to  be  engaged  in  a  bout  of 
fisticuffs,  which,  amidst  cries  of  "  Shame  !  "  terminated 
in  his  falling  over  a  chair  at  the  back  of  the  box. 

Suddenly,    with  a  wild  shriek,   his   opponent   was 


100    FANCIES,   FASHIONS,   AND   FADS 

seen  to  raise  the  prostrate  manager  in  his  arms,  and 
coming  forward,  to  the  horror  of  onlookers,  hurl  his 
struggling  figure  down  to  the  floor  below.  At  this 
stage  of  the  proceedings,  however,  the  real  Sir 
Augustus,  who  had  been  informed  of  what  had  been 
going  on,  made  his  appearance  at  the  door  of  the 
box  and  told  the  party  within  that  they  must  leave 
the  ball. 

In  the  earlier  days  of  restaurants  the  advertising 
was  not  on  nearly  such  a  considerable  scale  as  it  is 
to-day ;  the  consequence  was  that  the  world  of  the 
outer  suburbs  rarely  frequented  the  Carlton  and 
Savoy.  Some  years  ago,  however,  the  latter  em- 
barked upon  a  very  ingeniously  conducted  campaign 
of  publicity,  consisting  of  a  series  of  cleverly  written 
articles  inserted  in  various  papers,  including  The  Times. 
The  purpose  of  these  was  to  prove  that  dining  at  the 
restaurants  puffed  in  them  could  be  done  well  at  a 
very  moderate  price,  to  demonstrate  the  excellence  of 
the  material,  and  to  set  forth  the  attention  which  any 
one  partaking  of  even  the  most  modest  meal  was  sure 
to  receive.  In  addition  to  the  advertisements  in 
question,  attractively  designed  coloured  pictures  repre- 
senting the  delights  of  dinner  at  the  Savoy  and  the 
luxurious  foyer  (always  thronged,  it  would  seem,  by 
a  crowd  of  beautiful  women  and  handsome  men) 
intermittently  appeared  in  the  best  illustrated  papers. 

At  first  it  appeared  as  if  this  campaign  of  advertise- 
ment (deplored,  it  should  be  added,  by  most  of  the  old 
frequenters)  was  having  little  effect.  But  in  reality  it 
was  not  so. 


HALF-TONE   CELEBRITIES          101 

Bayswater,  Balham,  and  other  suburbs  gradually 
sent  their  more  prosperous  residents  to  seek  for 
luxury  in  the  West  End,  and  before  long  the  dining- 
rooms  of  the  smart  restaurants  became  thronged  for 
dinner  on  Sundays  and  supper  on  weekdays  by 
crowds  of  visitors,  belonging  to  a  class  which,  thirty 
or  forty  years  before,  would  as  soon  have  thought  of 
supping  in  the  same  room  with  actresses  as  dining  with 
the  devil  himself.  The  well-cooked  food,  the  artistic 
decorations  and  lighting,  and  the  excellent  band 
naturally  made  a  strong  appeal  to  those  of  the  visitors 
who  had  a  soul  above  the  early  Victorian  surroundings 
of  their  own  homes. 

Besides  this,  well-to-do  Suburbia  was  also  attracted 
by  the  prospect  of  seeing  in  the  flesh  a  number  of 
the  smart  or  titled  people  whose  doings  are  chronicled 
in  the  daily  papers. 

Whether  celebrities  are  present  or  not  makes  little 
difference.  Visitors  from  the  suburbs  are  often  only 
acquainted  with  the  physiogomy  of  their  social  idols 
from  snapshots  and  half-tone  plates,  and  Mrs.  Jones 
of  Bayswater  is  pretty  safe  in  showing  her  knowledge 
of  the  great  world  by  pointing  out  various  diners  as 
being  Lord  This  or  Lady  That  for  the  benefit  of  her 
guest,  Mrs.  Brown  of  Balham. 

The  presence  at  supper,  after  the  play,  of  one  or  two 
celebrated  actors  or  actresses  is  a  never-failing  source 
of  interest  to  such  simple  folk. 

Thoroughly  alive  to  the  various  attractions  of  the 
gastronomic  palaces  of  the  West  End,  even  the  less 
opulent  outer  suburbs  now  make  incursions  into  smart 


102    FANCIES,   FASHIONS,   AND   FADS 

restaurants.  The  expense  is  often  lessened  by  a  party 
sharing  the  cost  of  a  small  omnibus  to  convey  them  to 
the  play,  supper,  and  back  to  their  homes  again.  As 
such  parties,  however,  not  infrequently  exercise  great 
economy,  it  does  not  seem  certain  whether  they 
much  benefit  the  finances  of  the  more  expensive 
restaurants,  which  are  run  on  the  presumption  that  its 
clientele  rather  likes  getting  rid  of  cash  than  looking 
after  it. 

I  remember  once  seeing  a  scene  which  to  an  old- 
fashioned  maitre  d }  hotel  would  have  been  agonizing 
in  its  tragic  novelty.  Round  a  large  supper-table 
at  the  Savoy,  stolidly  consuming  every  item  of  an 
excellently  set  supper,  sat  five  men  and  three  women, 
the  latter,  of  course,  in  their  cloaks.  On  the  table,  in 
place  of  the  champagne,  stood  five  carafes  of  water. 
To  judge  from  appearances  these  people,  who  had 
evidently  perfected  the  art  of  getting  full  value  for 
their  money,  were  anything  but  profitable  to  the  coffers 
of  the  Savoy,  which,  spending  large  sums  on  decora- 
tion, linen,  flowers,  and  the  like,  quite  legitimately 
draws  a  great  part  of  its  profit  from  costly  wines. 

Restaurant  suppers,  I  believe,  pay  very  well,  for, 
owing  to  our  absurd  licensing  laws,  it  is  almost  impos- 
sible for  those  partaking  of  them — many  coming  in 
late  from  some  theatre — to  eat  very  much ;  at  the 
same  time  they  order  just  as  much  as  if  they  were 
going  to  sup  in  peace.  Those  who  manage  the  big 
restaurants  fully  realize  this,  and  also  the  saving  in 
wages  and  lights.  In  consequence,  I  believe,  they 
rather  prefer  our  ridiculous  closing  hours  to  the  more 


SUPPER  103 

sensible  plan  of  giving  people  plenty  of  time  for 
supper  which  prevails  abroad.  I  have,  indeed,  been 
told  that,  had  they  not  been  of  this  opinion,  the 
present  Government  would  have  been  willing  to  make 
some  modification  in  the  law  by  which  a  first-class 
restaurant  would  be  no  longer  treated  as  an  ordinary 
public-house,  and  allowed  to  keep  open  long  enough 
for  its  clients  to  eat  their  suppers  without  indecent 
haste. 

A  feature  of  supper  or  dinner  is  now  the  great  age 
of  some  of  the  frequenters.  I  fancy  that  it  is  becoming 
a  regular  suburban  practice  for  young  men  with 
expectations  to  entertain  elderly  relations  of  both 
sexes  who  are  likely  to  cut  up  well.  The  latter  class, 
who  have  come  to  regard  dining  at  a  restaurant  on 
Sunday  night  (which  their  immediate  progenitors 
would  have  considered  extravagant  and  scarcely 
proper)  as  a  social  function  of  extreme  respectability 
and  importance.  Such  parties  generally  contain  a  few 
freaks,  with  a  tendency  towards  the  flimsy  wraps  and 
meaningless  embroidery,  which  for  some  reason  or 
other  is  popular  with  their  class  ;  it  must  be  admitted, 
however,  that  most  of  the  old  ladies  are  handsomely 
dressed. 

Unfortunately,  a  number  of  them  spoil  the  effect  by 
retaining  their  cloaks  in  the  restaurant.  The  only 
reason  for  this  horrible  trick  must  be  a  desire  to  avoid 
tipping  the  cloak-room  attendant. 

While  the  incursion  of  Greater  London  has,  in  the 
opinion  of  many,  had  rather  a  bad  effect  upon  both 
cuisine  and  service,  it  has  in  addition  made  the  great 


104    FANCIES,   FASHIONS,   AND   FADS 

restaurants  much  duller  than  they  were  some  years 
ago.  They  are  no  longer  thronged  by  gilded  youth 
and  its  attendant  beauty,  which  have  fled  before  the 
crowds  of  stolid-looking  middle-aged  people. 

The  popularity  of  golf  and  motoring  is  probably 
responsible  for  the  comparative  absence  of  the  frivolous 
habitut  who  of  yore  made  a  point  of  taking  the  object 
of  his  adoration  to  a  sumptuous  Sunday  feast,  the  only 
note  of  exuberance  being  struck  at  a  few  tables  by 
obese  Hebrews  with  over-bejewelled  matrons.  The 
chorus  of  the  musical  comedy  theatres,  which 
brightened  the  restaurants  of  ten  years  ago,  has  to 
a  large  extent  betaken  itself  elsewhere.  For  several 
reasons  it  prefers  grill-rooms,  where  it  is  more  at  its 
ease  lolling  opposite  an  admirer. 

The  "masher"  of  the  eighties  is  now  represented  by 
youths  whose  mission  and  privilege  (after  an  expensive 
supper)  is  merely  to  deposit  immaculate  beauty  on  her 
maternal  doorstep.  Musical  comedy  is  more  austere 
than  burlesque,  and  the  old-style  chorister,  fond  of  fun 
and  champagne,  is  pretty  well  a  thing  of  the  past. 
Numbers  of  girls,  quite  rightly  regarding  the  musical- 
comedy  stage  as  the  best  marriage  market  in  the 
world,  go  on  the  boards  though  they  have  no  need 
to  do  so.  An  authority  on  the  lighter  forms  of  the 
drama  recently  said  to  me  :  "  After  all,  the  Gaiety 
and  Daly's  are  about  the  best  finishing  academies 
for  girls  in  England."  So  great  is  now  the  run  on 
these  two  elevating  London  institutions,  that  parents 
now  put  their  daughters'  names  down  for  them,  as 
fathers  do  those  of  their  sons  for  good  houses  at 


RESTAURANTS   OF  TO-DAY        105 

Eton !  The  competition  has  become  very  keen,  and 
many  homes  of  austere  respectability  have  been 
saddened  by  a  daughter's  rejection.  In  spite  of 
their  increased  popularity,  restaurants  have,  I  think, 
somewhat  deteriorated  of  late  years. 

To  begin  with,  the  late  M.  Ritz's  maxim  "Le 
client  n'a  jamais  tort,"  which  so  largely  contributed 
to  the  prosperity  of  the  establishments  over  which 
he  presided,  does  not  now  seem  to  be  sufficiently 
emphasized — the  waiters  are  not  so  attentive  or 
thoughtful  as  those  of  other  days,  when  they  were 
very  carefully  trained.  A  number  of  them,  indeed, 
rush  about  as  if  taking  part  in  a  football  match ;  one 
is  also  frequently  kept  waiting  for  the  minor  acces- 
sories of  dining. 

The  quality  of  the  materials  has  not  improved, 
while  the  food  does  not  seem  to  be  so  carefully 
cooked  as  in  the  past.  The  maitres  cf  hotel  are  less 
urbane,  and  do  not  take  so  much  trouble  to  humour 
the  fancies  of  visitors.  The  far-seeing  policy  of 
M.  Ritz  seems  to  be  abandoned  and  everything 
has  become  rather  slipshod  and  slack  except  the 
prices,  which  are  higher  than  ever.  There  is,  of 
course,  a  good  reason  for  this,  the  cost  of  provisions 
having  risen  more  than  25  per  cent  within  the  last 
few  years,  though  nobody  knows  exactly  why? 

What,  however,  there  is  no  excuse  for  is  the  little 
tricks  which  would  scarcely  be  in  place  in  a  night 
restaurant  of  Montmartre,  such  as  obliging  a  client 
who  calls  for  a  cigarette  to  purchase  a  box.  Why 
cannot  he  be  allowed  to  pay  twopence  (100  per 


106    FANCIES,   FASHIONS,   AND   FADS 

cent  profit  to  the  restaurant)  for  one  cigarette, 
instead  of  being  made  to  buy  a  number  of  a  kind 
he  may  not  like,  for,  for  some  reason  or  other,  the 
choice  of  cigarettes  in  the  modern  smart  restaurant 
is  very  limited  ? 

The  price  of  the  cigars  is  outrageous ;  the  res- 
taurant cigar,  indeed,  which  has  never  been  very 
good,  is  now,  no  matter  what  is  paid  for  it,  rarely 
smokable  at  all,  no  care  being  apparently  exercised 
to  keep  it  in  condition.  Anything  more  pitiable, 
indeed,  than  these  Havanas  after  a  few  minutes' 
smoking  it  is  impossible  to  conceive.  When  such 
a  large  profit  (usually  well  over  50  per  cent)  is 
made,  trouble  might  surely  be  taken  not  to  provide 
sodden  cigars.  No  doubt  it  is  difficult  to  keep  the 
boxes  in  an  equable  temperature,  but  an  improve- 
ment on  the  present  system,  or  lack  of  it,  might 
probably  be  effected  without  much  difficulty. 

In  spite  of  such  lapses  as  have  been  indicated 
above,  the  restaurants  of  to-day,  though  they  may- 
have  fallen  below  the  standard  set  up  by  the  incom- 
parable Ritz,  are  undoubtedly  a  great  improvement 
upon  those  at  which  people  lunched  and  dined 
previous  to  the  opening  of  the  old  Savoy  Hotel. 
There  are  many  still  connected  with  the  business 
who  are  well  acquainted  with  the  system  inaugurated 
by  M.  Ritz.  Let  them  remember  his  methods,  and 
reflect  that  it  was  their  excellence  which  created  a 
special  public.  The  latter,  should  it  ever  realize 
that  attempts  are  being  made  to  extract  money 
from  its  pockets  without  giving  adequate  value  in 


PARIS   RESTAURANTS  107 

return,  will  inevitably  desert  the  smart  restaurants, 
which  after  all  are  mere  luxuries  and  not  necessities 
of  daily  life. 

Within  the  last  twenty-five  years  nearly  all  the 
small  Parisian  restaurants  which  were  noted  through 
Europe,  such  as  the  Cafe"  Anglais,  Cafe"  Riche,  the 
Maison  Doree,  Bignon's,  Durand's,  all  of  which  were 
not  only  on  the  boulevard,  but  at  the  corner  of 
the  boulevard  have  disappeared.  A  list  of  the 
distinguished  people  who  have  regaled  themselves 
at  these  vanished  shrines  of  gastronomy  would  make 
interesting  reading. 

In  1867  five  kings  are  said  to  have  supped  together 
in  a  cabinet  particulier  at  Durand's,  and,  at  the  con- 
clusion of  the  banquet,  discovered  that  not  one  of 
their  majesties  had  money  enough  about  him  to  pay 
for  his  supper. 

One  restaurant  used  to  be  renowned  for  the  number 
of  royalties  who  came  to  dine  there.  A  traveller 
once  laughingly  asked  the  landlord  what  he  could 
give  him  in  the  way  of  kings  —  to  which  the 
restaitranteur  jocosely  replied  that  he  was  very  sorry, 
but  that  he  was  then  out  of  crowned  heads,  and 
that  the  utmost  he  could  offer  him  in  the  way 
of  exalted  rank  was  the  Prince  of  Tour  and 
Taxis. 

Those  were  the  great  days  of  gastronomy.  Never 
since  the  days  of  Vatel  had  the  amour propre  of  cooks 
reached  such  a  pitch  of  sensibility. 

"  Je  lui  ai  compose^"  said  the  great  Careme  bitterly 
of  an  unappreciative  master,  "  une  longe  de  veau  en 


108    FANCIES,   FASHIONS,   AND   FADS 

surprise.  II  1'a  mangee  ;  mais  il  n'a  pas  su  la  com- 
prendre."  So  the  disgusted  cook  "  composed  "  a  last 
sauce,  which  he  called  "  La  Derniere  Pens£e  de 
Careme,"  and  shook  the  dust  of  the  barbarous 
household  from  his  feet. 

About  the  greatest  compliment  which  was  ever 
paid  to  a  gourmet  was  the  saying  of  the  chef  of  the 
Brevoort  House,  New  York.  This  culinary  artist 
declared  that  he  always  knew  when  His  Excellency 
Lord  Lyons  was  staying  in  the  hotel  from  the  ex- 
ceptional tastefulness  of  the  dinners  selected  from 
his  bill  of  fare  by  the  occupant  of  the  suite  of  apart- 
ments on  the  first  floor  of  the  hotel.  "  Milor  Lyon 
he  arrive,"  the  chef  would  remark  to  his  roasting  cook. 
"Je  vois  la  le  main  du  mattre" 

Some  gourmets  attached  such  importance  to  their 
dinner  that  they  made  a  point  of  always  eating  it 
alone. 

If  they  only  ordered  for  one,  they  frequently  ate 
enough  for  a  small  dinner-party. 

To  this  school  belonged  Handel,  the  composer, 
who,  having  ordered  dinner  for  three  at  a  tavern, 
and  being  asked  by  the  waiter  when  the  rest  of  the 
company  were  coming,  tranquilly  replied,  "  I  am  de 
gompany." 

First-class  cooking  puts  people  into  a  good  temper, 
and  diplomatic  manoeuvres  have  often  owed  their 
success  to  the  softening  effects  of  a  good  dinner.  No 
one  knew  this  better  than  the  great  Duke  of 
Wellington,  who,  in  July,  1815,  when  Blucher  wanted 
to  blow  up  the  bridge  of  Jena,  dissuaded  the  rough 


A  SUCCESSFUL   DINNER  109 

old  soldier  over  a  dinner  at  Very's  in  the  Palais 
Royal. 

"  I  must  and  will  blow  it  up,"  grumbled  old  "Marshal 
Vorwarts  "  over  his  bisque  soup.  But  when  he  got  to 
his  parfait  au  cafe  and  his  third  bottle  of  Moe't  and 
Chandon,  and  was  preparing  to  light  his  meerschaum, 
he  seized  the  Duke's  hand  and  cried,  "  Never  was 
there  such  a  dinner  ;  I  will  not  blow  up  the  bridge  of 
Jena." 

Ordinary  matters  have  from  time  to  time  had 
considerable  influence  upon  politics. 

The  Governor  of  the  Palace  of  Fontainebleau 
appointed  after  the  Revolution  of  1848  was  M. 
Auguste  Luchet,  well  known  both  as  a  Republican 
and  a  gourmet.  In  consequence  of  this  reputation 
he  was  accused  by  the  anti-Republican  newspapers 
of  having  fried  and  eaten  the  historic  carp  that 
Francis  I  fed  with  breadcrumbs,  and  to  which  the 
Duchess  d'Etampes  had  thrown  golden  rings. 

In  the  days  of  Louis  Philippe  and  even  during 
the  Second  Empire  the  Palais  Royal  contained  more 
first-class  restaurants  than  all  the  rest  of  Paris  put 
together.  Dinners  could  be  procured  there  to  suit 
any  price,  and  every  culinary  luxury  was  at  the 
command  of  those  willing  to  pay  for  it. 

Ve*ry,  Vefour,  and  the  Freres  Proven9aux,  though 
unknown  to  the  present  generation,  deservedly  occupy 
a  great  place  in  the  annals  of  gastronomy.  After 
the  fall  of  the  Empire,  however,  the  first-class 
restaurants  began  to  feel  the  effects  of  the  decadence 
of  the  famous  pleasure-resort,  which  gradually  became 


110     FANCIES,   FASHIONS,   AND   FADS 

a  mere  lounge  for  tourists.  To  cater  for  this  latter 
class,  announcements  of  cheap  dinners  from  i  franc 
50  centimes  stared  one  in  the  face  all  over  the  old 
arcades.  In  the  early  eighties,  however,  there  were 
still  a  few  places,  notably  the  Cafe  d'Orleans  in  the 
famous  gallery  of  that  name,  where  a  fair  dinner 
could  be  procured.  This  cafe,  I  recollect,  used  to 
be  much  frequented  by  old-fashioned  English  visitors, 
the  majority  full  of  all  sorts  of  queer  traditional  tricks 
which  they  supposed  were  a  guard  against  any 
attempts  at  extortion.  The  class  in  question, 
for  instance,  had  a  great  horror  of  hors  d'ceuvres, 
which  they  would  never  allow  a  waiter  to  place  on 
the  table  for  a  moment,  the  reason  being  a  legend 
that  an  English  family  had  been  made  to  pay  25 
francs  because  one  of  their  number  had  eaten  a  prawn 
from  a  little  dish  containing  25,  which  a  certain 
restauranteur  priced  at  a  franc  apiece.  Hors  d'ceuvres 
and  candles  the  old-fashioned  traveller  always 
connected  with  robbery  and  extortion  ;  indeed,  some 
old  ladies  used  to  carry  candles  in  their  boxes,  but 
I  do  not  believe  they  ever  got  the  best  of  any  hotel 
proprietor. 

Ordinary  English  refreshments  were  then  difficult 
to  get  in  Paris  and  had  to  be  heavily  paid  for.  At 
one  time  a  pint  bottle  of  Hodgson's  "  East  India 
Ale  "  at  the  Cafe  de  la  Madeleine — the  only  establish- 
ment where  the  beverage  was  sold — cost  four  francs. 
At  present,  at  many  of  the  fixed-price  restaurants, 
you  are  allowed  to  exchange  the  bottle  of  wine  to 
which  you  are  entitled  for  a  quart  bottle  of  English 


THE   CAF&  ANGLAIS  111 

bitter  beer ;  and  vast  numbers  of  Frenchmen  prefer 
what  they  facetiously  term  le  champagne  anglaise 
to  that  very  dubious  vintage,  restaurant  win 
ordinaire. 

The  cheap  dinners,  two  francs  and  upwards,  which 
attracted  unwary  tourists,  were  in  the  number  of 
their  component  parts  wretched  imitations  of  the 
lordly  feasts  of  the  Cafe  Anglais  and  other  noted 
shrines  of  gastronomy. 

All  things  in  these  terrible  and  strange  meals 
wore  an  aspect  not  their  own.  Most  of  these  dinners, 
indeed,  resembled  a  really  good  dinner  only  about  as 
much  as  a  monkey  resembles  a  man. 

At  that  time,  however,  there  were  many  small 
restaurants  where  an  excellent  dinner  could  be  ob- 
tained at  a  moderate  price.  Most  of  these,  together 
with  almost  all  the  old-fashioned  first-class  restaurants, 
such  as  the  Maison  d'Oree,  Cafe"  Anglais,  and  Durand's, 
have  now  disappeared. 

Of  the  old-fashioned  first-rate  Parisian  restaurants 
Voisin's,  in  the  Rue  St.  Honore,  now  almost  alone 
survives. 

The  famous  Cafe"  Anglais,  where  in  the  cabinet 
particulier  No.  16,  known  to  all  the  viveurs  of  the 
Second  Empire  as  the  "Grand  Seize,"  so  many  joyous 
suppers  had  been  given,  closed  its  doors  for  ever 
but  a  short  while  ago.  On  the  last  night  of  its 
existence  a  number  of  old  habitues  were  entertained 
at  a  farewell  dinner. 

While  the  old  restaurants  with  the  sober  scheme 
of  decoration  and  unmistakable  air  of  refined  calm 


112     FANCIES,   FASHIONS,   AND   FADS 

have  disappeared,  a  number  of  new  establishments 
of  a  more  flamboyant  description  have  arisen  in  their 
stead.  Though  the  cooking  at  these  places  is  occa- 
sionally excellent,  it  is  certain  that  the  new  genera- 
tion of  gourmets  is  rarely  able  to  dine  so  well  or 
so  comfortably  as  the  old.  To  dine  on  decent  fare, 
in  a  richly  but  rather  gaudily  decorated  room, 
where  the  conversation  is  impeded  by  the  din 
of  a  noisy  band,  the  diner  must  submit  to  pay  what 
is  often  a  ridiculous  and  outrageous  price  as  well 
as  to  the  scandalous  exactions  of  an  impudent 
wine  carte.  The  decadence  of  Parisian  cooking  had 
already  commenced  in  the  early  eighties  of  the 
last  century,  at  which  time  M.  Abraham  Dreyfus,  a 
high  authority  on  culinary  matters,  writing  in  The 
XIXmc  Siecle,  pointed  out  how  difficult  it  was  be- 
coming to  secure  the  services  of  really  accomplished 
cooks,  for  the  reason  that  first-rate  chefs  could  always 
command  much  larger  salaries  in  London,  in  Berlin, 
in  Vienna,  in  St.  Petersburg,  in  New  York,  and  in 
San  Francisco  than  they  could  obtain  in  Paris;  and 
that  at  the  slightest  reprimand  which  they  received  from 
their  patrons  they  threatened  to  "  rendre  le  tablier" 

The  Cafe"  du  Roi,  once  a  celebrated  restaurant  in 
secret  much  patronized  by  the  Royalists  under  the 
Empire,  acquired  its  name  in  rather  a  strange  fashion. 
One  warm  evening  in  autumn  a  young  man,  somewhat 
overdressed,  with  a  very  considerable  border  of  pinkish 
silk  stockings  seen  above  the  margin  of  his  low  boots, 
and  a  most  inordinate  amount  of  coat-collar,  lounged 
along  the  Boulevard  des  Italiens,  occasionally  ogling 


THE   CAFti    DU   ROI  113 

the  passers-by,  but,  oftener  still,  throwing  an  admiring 
glance  at  himself  as  the  splendid  windows  of  plate- 
glass  reflected  back  his  figure.  He  had  just  reached  the 
angle  of  the  Rue  Vivienne,  and  was  about  to  turn,  when 
two  individuals  advanced  towards  him.  They  were 
both  young,  and,  although  palpably  men  of  a  certain 
rank  and  condition,  were  equally  what  is  called  out-at- 
elbows ;  hats  that  exhibited  long  intimacy  with  rain 
and  wind,  shoes  of  very  questionable  colour,  coats 
suspiciously  buttoned  about  the  throat,  being  all  signs 
of  circumstances  that  were  far  from  flourishing. 

"  Chopard,  Brissole,"  cried  the  first  of  the  three, 
"  how  long  have  you  been  in  Paris  ?  " 

"  About  two  hours,"  replied  the  first.  "  Just  as  I 
stepped  out  of  the  Place  des  Victoires  I  met  our  old 
friend  here ;  and  now,  strange  enough,  we  meet  you. 
Three  old  schoolfellows !  " 

"  An  instant  later  and  we  should  have  missed  each 
other,"  said  Brissole.  "  I  was  about  to  take  my 
departure  for  Nancy." 

"  To  quit  Paris?  " 

"  Yes  ;  I've  had  enough  of  it." 

"  Don't  be  a  fool,"  said  Chopard.  "  Why,  man, 
I've  come  to  make  my  fortune!" 

"  So  much  the  worse  !  "  rejoined  Brissole.  "  I  have 
tried  it  for  five  years,  and  now  look  at  me." 

"  And  you  ?  "  said  the  dashing  young  man. 

"  I  have  just  had  a  piece  hooted  off  the  stage  at 
Lyons,  and  so  have  come  to  Paris." 

"But  what  has  been  your  luck?"  cried  Brissole. 
"You  are,  to  all  appearances,  more  fortunate." 


114     FANCIES,   FASHIONS,   AND   FADS 

"Aye,  Jerome,  how  fares  the  world  with  you  ?  " 

"  Pretty  well,"  said  the  other,  laughing.  "Just  now 
I'm  King  of  Westphalia." 

"  The  deuce ! "  exclaimed  the  two  unfortunates, 
bowing  respectfully;  "and  where  is  this  country?" 

"Bah!"  added  Brissole,  "what  matters?  It  pro- 
duces fine  hams." 

"Come  and  sup  with  me,"  said  the  new-fledged 
king.  "This  is  Villaret's — I'm  the  host.  Be  easy  ; 
you,  Brissole,  I  appoint  my  private  secretary  ;  you, 
Chopard,  my  maitre  de  chapelle" 

The  young  men  bowed  their  thanks,  and,  nothing 
loath,  followed  the  king  in  to  supper. 

The  pleasant  hours  flew  rapidly  by — bright  visions 
of  the  future  lent  charms  to  happiness  ;  but,  still,  day- 
break came  at  last,  and  with  it  the  sleepy  waiter  and 
the  bill — eight  hundred  francs. 

"  The  deuce ! "  said  Jerome,  "  and  I  have  no 
money.  You,  Brissole,  pay  the  fellow." 

"  Your  majesty,  I  have  no  money." 

"  Then  you  must  do  so,  Chopard." 

"  I  haven't  a  sou." 

"Send  the  landlord  in,"  said  Jerome,  with  a  groan. 
"  Ah,  Villaret,  there  you  are  !  We  have  forgotten  our 
purses,  but  as  soon  as  I  reach  home  I  will  send  a 
servant  with  the  money." 

"  I  have  no  doubt  of  it,  gentlemen — but  it  would 
please  me  better  to  receive  it  now,  particularly  as  I 
have  not  the  honour  to  know  the  distinguished 
company." 

In  vain  the  trio  found  fault  with  the  wine  and 
attendance. 


THE   IMPERIAL    WATCH  115 

"If  I  had  the  happiness  of  knowing  messieurs," 
said  Villaret,  "  I  should  hope  on  another  occasion  to 
please  them  better." 

"I  am  the  maitre  de  chapelle  to  the  King  of 
Westphalia,"  said  Chopard. 

Villaret  bowed. 

"And  I  private  secretary  and  privy  purse  to  His 
Majesty,"  said  Brissole. 

The  restaurateur  again  bowed,  but  sarcastically. 

"And  pray  what  office  does  this  gentleman  hold 
in  His  Majesty's  service  ? "  he  said,  with  mock 
humility. 

"  I  am  the  King  of  Westphalia,"  replied  Jerome, 
with  an  attempt  at  dignity  which  the  effects  of  a 
copious  supper  rather  marred. 

"  Frangois,"  cried  the  indignant  Villaret,  "  fetch  the 
police  ! " 

"No!"  said  Jerome,  springing  to  his  feet,  "you 
do  not  need  them — take  my  watch,  it  is  worth 
double  your  bill.  I  will  send  for  it." 

The  landlord  rather  reluctantly  agreed,  but  im- 
mediately after  their  departure,  on  examining  the 
watch  more  minutely,  he  found  the  emblematic  "  N  " 
of  the  Emperor.  Fearing  it  had  been  stolen,  he 
hurried  to  the  commissary  of  police,  who  sent  to 
Fouche,  who  went  to  Napoleon  and  told  the  whole 
story.  The  watch  was  a  present  from  Napoleon  to 
Jerome,  but  it  was  the  want  of  dignity  which 
characterized  the  whole  affair  that  enraged  the 
Emperor. 

King,   secretary,  and  maitre  de  chapelle  were  sent 


116    FANCIES,   FASHIONS,   AND   FADS 

off  to  Westphalia,  with  strict  injunctions  to  keep  the 
story  to  themselves. 

A  typical  French  restaurant  of  the  past  was  the 
Maison  d'Ore'e,  the  proprietor  of  which,  when  I  first 
remember  it  in  the  early  eighties,  was  old  M. 
Verdier,  who  at  dinner-time  walked  about  looking 
after  his  guests  in  a  frock-coat  and  black  skull-cap. 
The  appointments  and  decoration  of  this  resort  of 
gourmets  always  seemed  to  me  admirably  designed. 
On  the  walls  was  a  paper  of  white  stripes  relieved  by 
small  golden  stars.  I  have  never  seen  one  like  it  since. 
A  rich  carpet  of  a  very  subdued  tone  of  colour  was  on 
the  floor,  and  the  whole  place  conveyed  an  impression 
of  refined  luxury.  As  at  the  Cafe  Anglais,  the  plate 
was  of  silver.  At  that  time  the  restaurant  was  lit  by 
wax  candles,  but  when  old  M.  Verdier  died  and  was 
succeeded  by  his  brother,  not  very  much  younger  than 
himself,  much  to  the  dislike  and  dismay  of  old  patrons, 
electric  light  made  its  appearance. 

Absurd  as  it  may  seem,  this  was  the  beginning  of 
the  decadence  of  this  famous  dining-place.  Up  to  the 
time  of  its  installation  quite  a  number  of  gourmets  of 
the  old  school  made  a  regular  practice  of  dining  at  the 
same  tables  night  after  night.  When  the  wax  candles 
went  a  number  of  old  clients  said  they  would  go  too, 
and  I  have  no  doubt  this  did  the  place  harm.  In  old 
days  the  ground-floor  rooms  of  this  restaurant 
were  frequented  mostly  by  men  though,  of  course, 
ladies  occasionally  went  to  dine  there.  Foreigners 
visiting  Paris  generally  made  a  point  of  dining  at  the 
Maison  d'Oree,  rather  to  the  disgust  of  the  regular 


THE   MAISON   D'OR^E  117 

habitue's,  who  regarded  them  as  interlopers.  Cocottes, 
except  those  of  the  very  highest  class,  were  seldom 
seen,  though  frequent  visitors  at  supper-time  to  the 
cabinet  particulier  upstairs,  where  so  many  viveurs 
of  the  Second  Empire  had  held  their  revels.  It  was 
after  dining  in  one  of  these  rooms  that  the  Duke  of 
Hamilton  met  his  death  by  falling  down  the  stairs. 
In  consequence  of  this  tragic  accident  his  successor 
would  never  enter  the  place. 

The  regular  clientele  of  the  restaurant  in  its  pros- 
perous days  consisted  of  well-to-do  gourmets,  including 
a  number  of  rich  boursiers,  who  came  to  lunch  there 
every  day.  When,  however,  the  young  Verdiers  came 
into  power,  they  tried  to  bring  the  place  up-to-date ; 
the  old  waiters,  some  of  whom  had  been  there  more 
years  than  anyone  remembered — typical  Parisian  char- 
acters who  knew  the  exact  tastes  of  their  older  clients — 
gradually  disappeared  ;  various  innovations — improve- 
ments no  doubt,  but  quite  unsuited  to  the  old-world 
spirit  of  the  famous  restaurant — were  effected  in  many 
directions,  with  the  result  that  the  old  habitue's  went 
elsewhere  to  dine,  their  place  being  taken  by  a  hetero- 
geneous crowd,  amongst  which  were  many  Americans. 
The  old  restaurant,  however,  was  too  small,  and  its 
rooms  too  decorous  in  character  to  become  a  popular 
cosmopolitan  resort ;  and  so,  eventually  falling  between 
two  stools,  the  proprietors,  who  in  the  meanwhile  had 
started  the  very  unsuccessful  Maison  d'Ore"e  Club  in 
London,  were  eventually  forced  to  close  it,  and  the 
place  where  so  many  admirable  dinners  had  been 
eaten  is  now,  I  think,  either  a  post-office  or  a  boot- 


118     FANCIES,   FASHIONS,   AND   FADS 

shop.  In  its  flourishing  days  the  Maison  d'Oree  was 
the  most  satisfactory  restaurant  I  ever  remember. 
If  you  were  known  to  the  house  they  would  serve 
you  with  a  boiled  egg  and  a  piece  of  toast  with 
the  same  ceremony  as  accompanied  an  elaborate  and 
costly  dinner.  The  way  in  which  the  old  waiters 
brought  in  the  dishes  was  almost  sacramental — certain 
special  dishes  there  were,  the  secret  of  which  the  chef 
alone  knew. 

One  felt,  indeed,  that  there  was  something  more 
than  a  mere  dinner  in  a  restaurant,  and  everything 
was  done  to  promote  this  impression.  The  scale 
of  charges,  I  may  add,  though  of  course  not  cheap, 
was  nothing  like  that  ordinarily  met  with  in  modern 
caravanserais. 

From  the  Maison  d'Ore"e  it  was  that  in  the  eighties 
I  witnessed  the  destruction  by  fire  of  the  Opera 
Comique,  in  which  hundreds  of  people  met  their  death 
— a  friend  of  mine  in  Paris  at  the  time  escaped  death 
by  the  merest  chance.  A  constant  frequenter  of  the 
Opera  when  in  Paris,  an  engagement  luckily  pre- 
vented him  from  that  night  occupying  his  usual  seat. 

I  can  still  see  in  my  mind's  eye  the  gallant  little 
firemen  climbing  about  the  burning  roof,  the  streets 
thronged  with  people,  and  the  whole  building  opposite 
one  blazing  furnace  filled  with  flame. 

The  loss  of  life  was  appalling ;  very  few  escaped. 
For  days  afterwards  people  declared  that  the  vicinity 
of  the  burnt-out  theatre  smelt  like  a  kitchen  after  a 
dinner  had  been  cooked.  This,  however,  was  probably 
fancy. 


PINK   CHAMPAGNE  119 

A  speciality  of  the  Maison  d'Ore'e  was  a  certain 
pink  champagne — champagne  rosd — "  St.  Marceaux." 
It  was,  I  remember,  the  particular  brand,  exceedingly 
good  and  quite  different  from  the  usual  wine  of  this 
kind,  which  as  a  rule  has  little  to  recommend  it 
except  its  attractive  appearance. 

"  Lily  on  liquid  roses  floating, 
So  floats  yon  foam  o'er  pink  champagne," 

as  an  American  poet  once  wrote.  A  hundred  years 
ago  or  so  pink  champagne  enjoyed  great  popularity, 
but  by  1825  this  was  rapidly  fading  away,  and  at  the 
present  day  champagne  of  this  colour  is  scarcely  ever 
to  be  seen.  The  famous  vintage  of  1874,  owing 
to  the  excellence  of  certain  pink  brands,  due  to  a 
portion  of  the  colouring  matter  having  been  extracted 
from  the  skins  of  grapes,  for  a  time  partly  restored 
the  fortunes  of  champagne  rosJ,  the  cruder  forms 
of  which  were  also  produced  by  the  admixture  of  a 
small  quantity  of  pink  wine. 

In  former  days  it  was  only  very  rarely  that  the 
ordinary  Frenchman  touched  champagne. 

The  wine  in  question,  indeed,  was  often  alluded 
to  contemptuously  as  "  le  vin  des  cocottes"  and  more 
frequently  "/<?  vin  des  Allemands" 

A  well-known  restaurant  of  the  past,  now  but  a 
memory,  was  Brebant's.  Upstairs,  here,  were  a 
number  of  cabinet  particuliers.  Rather  old-fashioned 
in  their  style  of  decoration,  these  little  rooms  had, 
as  the  names  scratched  on  the  looking-glasses  testi- 
fied, seen  many  lovers  come  and  go. 


120    FANCIES,   FASHIONS,   AND   FADS 

The  delights  of  a  tete-a-tete  supper  at  Brabant's 
formed  the  subject  of  many  a  Cafe  Concert  dinner. 
In  former  days,  Parisian  chanteurs  and  ckanteuses 
were  much  given  to  chanting  the  charms  of  various 
resorts,  identified  not  only  with  excellent  cooking, 
but  also  with  what  sometimes  passes  for  love. 

The  most  attractive  song  of  this  sort  I  ever  heard, 
set  to  a  most  haunting  tune,  was : — 

"Je  vous  promets  des  delices 
Et  je  suis  loin  d'etre  flatteur, 
Nous  mangerons  des  ecrevisses 
Aux  Cafe  des  Ambassadeurs." 

A  visit  to  the  Cafe"  des  Ambassadeurs  was  at 
that  time  heaven  to  many  &grisette.  The  restaurant 
was  then  of  course  much  less  expensive  than  it  is  now. 

In  more  primitive  days,  before  the  Caf£  Concert 
was  roofed  in  and  boxes  built  at  the  side,  this 
place  on  a  summer's  evening  was  a  most  delightful 
resort.  It  was  at  the  "Ambassadeurs"  that  poor 
Paulus  enjoyed  his  greatest  hour  of  triumph. 

The  Second  Empire  was  the  halcyon  era  of  the 
real  French  restaurant  as  it  existed  up  to  twenty 
years  ago,  and  while  most  of  the  old-established 
cafes  enjoyed  great  prosperity,  quite  a  number  of 
new  restaurants  were  founded  in  the  great  thorough- 
fares which  were  constructed  on  the  initiative  of 
Napoleon  III.  A  particularly  fashionable  and  expen- 
sive resort  of  this  kind  was  Bignon's,  in  the  Avenue 
de  rOpeVa,  the  very  name  of  which,  once  so  celebrated, 
is  unknown  to  the  Parisians  of  to-day.  As  far  as  I 
remember,  its  doors  were  finally  closed  in  the  later 


BIGNON'S  121 

eighties.  In  the  last  years  of  its  existence  this 
restaurant  was  more  especially  frequented  at  lunch- 
time,  many  people  going  there  for  dejeuner  before 
driving  out  to  the  races.  Two  features  I  especially 
remember  were  the  excellence  of  the  new-laid  eggs, 
sent  into  Paris  from  the  country  every  morning 
early,  and  the  atrocity  of  the  racing  tips,  which,  how- 
ever disinclined  one  might  be,  the  mattres  d 'hotel 
insisted  upon  foisting  upon  one.  It  was  a  curiously 
arranged  restaurant,  much  space  being  wasted,  while 
the  room  was  decorated  in  the  taste  of  the  Second 
Empire,  with  huge  leather-cushioned  seats.  In  its 
last  days  very  few  people  went  to  dine  at  Bignon's. 
I  believe  an  attempt  was  made  to  sell  the  goodwill 
and  premises  for  a  ridiculously  large  sum,  with  the 
result  that  no  purchaser  could  be  found.  The 
cabinet  particuliers  and  the  bills  for  supping  in 
them  were  a  good  deal  bigger  than  those  of  rival 
establishments.  One  in  particular  I  recollect — an 
account  for  a  jovial  supper-party  after  an  opera  ball, 
which  beat  anything  I  ever  heard  of.  When  it  was 
presented,  after  a  good  deal  of  argument,  a  few  of  the 
more  ridiculous  items  were  struck  off,  and  the  waiter 
having  been  handsomely  tipped,  we  said,  "Well, 
anyhow,  they  can't  make  us  pay  anything  more." 
The  rapacity  which  animated  the  whole  place  was, 
however,  absolutely  unbounded. 
Though 

"The  evaporation  of  a  joyous  day, 
Is  like  the  last  glass  of  champagne,  without 
The  foam  which  made  its  virgin  bumper  gay," 


122     FANCIES,   FASHIONS,   AND   FADS 

our  party,   after  the  manner  of  revellers,   continued 
to  sit  on  for  some  time  longer. 

At  five  in  the  morning,  when  we  rang  for  our  coats, 
the  maitre  (f  hotel  had  the  effrontery  to  appear  with 
another  complete  bill.  I  believe  this  form  of  extortion 
was  regularly  practised  on  supper-parties  after  opera 
balls,  many  of  these  parties  begun  in  revelry,  ending 
in  such  drowsiness  that  people  did  not  very  well 
remember  whether  they  had  paid  their  bill  or  not. 
However,  to  their  surprise  the  harpies,  in  spite  of  the 
lateness  of  the  hour,  found  us  quite  alert  and  quite 
determined  not  to  be  robbed  any  more.  The  exit  from 
these  night  restaurants  in  the  early  morning  after  an 
opera  ball  was  always  rather  amusing,  the  incongruity 
of  ladies  in  fancy  dresses  coming  out  quite  uncon- 
cerned in  broad  daylight  being  essentially  Parisian. 
On  the  occasion  alluded  to  above,  I  remember,  our 
party  consisted,  besides  myself  and  a  friend,  of  two 
Parisiennes  dressed  respectively  as  a  Louis  XV 
Marquis  and  a  Mignon  of  the  Court  of  Henry  III. 
No  fiacre  could  be  got  at  the  door,  but  the  Marquis 
and  the  Mignon,  in  no  wise  disturbed,  walked  down 
the  Avenue  de  I'Op^ra  just  as  if  they  were  in 
ordinary  costume.  No  women  in  the  world  enter  so 
fully  into  the  real  spirit  of  carnival  as  the  French. 


V 
PARIS 

IN  Paris,  as  Chopin  said,  you  may  do  as  you 
please,  laugh,  cry,  go  pleasure-hunting,  or 
think  of  nothing  but  business.  Nobody  takes 
any  notice  of  what  you  do — all  sorts  of  amusements 
are  to  be  found  in  abundance ;  no  wonder  then 
that  all  the  pleasure-loving  world  flocks  to  the  gay 
city  beside  the  Seine. 

Up  to  comparatively  recent  years,  however,  there 
was  scarcely  a  sufficiency  of  first-rate  hotel  accom- 
modation, and  nervous  visitors  from  England  rather 
dreaded  the  crowd  at  seasons  such  as  Easter  and 
the  fortnight  which  ended  with  the  Grand  Prix. 

In  the  eighties  big  hotels  were  few.  The  most 
frequented  being  the  Grand,  Continental,  and  Louvre, 
which  then  occupied  a  great  part  of  the  building 
now  entirely  absorbed  by  the  famous  "  Magasins 
du  Louvre." 

The  table  d'hote  here  enjoyed  great  popularity 
with  travellers,  the  room  in  which  it  was  given, 
still  in  existence,  looking  quite  magnificent  when 
lit  up  at  night,  while  the  fare  was  liberal  and 

on  the  whole  good;  separate  tables,  of  course,  were 
123 


124    FANCIES,   FASHIONS,   AND   FADS 

at  that  time  very  limited  in  number.  The  court- 
yard of  the  Louvre,  like  that  of  the  Grand  Hotel, 
now  converted  to  other  uses,  was  quite  an  amusing 
place  to  sit  in  after  dinner.  As  fiacres  and  small 
omnibuses  drove  in,  the  porter  used,  I  remember, 
to  ring  a  great  clanging  bell,  which  conveyed  an 
impression  that  some  important  event  was  about  to 
happen. 

Everything  was  done  in  a  very  orderly  and 
dignified  fashion.  Considerable  ceremony  accom- 
panied the  opening  of  the  table  d'hote  dinner,  a 
number  of  kuissier -\\ViG.  personages  of  grave  and 
reverend  aspect,  clad  in  a  full  suit  of  black,  with  a 
white  cravat,  and  a  steel  chain  round  their  necks, 
being  in  attendance  as  necessarily  auxiliaries  to  dining. 

Though  good  hotels  were  few,  their  amenities 
far  excelled  those  then  to  be  found  in  London. 
The  extravagant  luxury  of  our  modern  palatial 
caravanserais  did  not,  of  course,  yet  exist ;  but  at 
the  hotels  mentioned  above  very  comfortable  rooms 
could  be  procured  at  a  fairly  moderate  rate ;  there 
were  also  smaller  ones,  such  as  the  Splendide, 
Chatham,  Lille  et  d' Albion.  The  Bristol,  Rhin,  and 
Meurice's  were  of  course  more  expensive,  and  only 
frequented  by  wealthy  people. 

Many  things  which  are  now  to  be  found  all  over 
the  world  were  then  difficult  to  get  out  of  England. 
Soda-water,  except  in  rather  doubtful  siphons,  was 
only  to  be  procured  at  certain  special  resorts 
which  made  an  especial  feature  of  catering  for 
English  visitors.  Still,  things  were  a  good  deal  better 


A   QUAINT   CUSTOM  125 

than  they  had  been  thirty  years  before,  when  the 
only  place  in  Paris  where  you  could  procure  English 
groceries  and  wines  and  spirits  was  at  Cuvillier's, 
in  the  Rue  de  la  Paix.  At  that  remote  period 
English  penknives,  scissors,  and  table-cutlery  were 
almost  unattainable  things ;  English  crockeryware 
was  as  scarce  in  Paris  as  old  Chelsea  china  ;  English 
hosiery  and  linendrapery  were  fearfully  costly  and 
difficult  to  get  at  all. 

Within  the  last  fifty  years  the  appearance  of  the 
Parisians  has  entirely  changed.  Men  no  longer  wear 
coats  and  hats  of  eccentric  cut  and  style ;  many 
picturesque  little  industries  have  also  disappeared. 

It  was,  for  instance,  at  one  time  quite  an  ordinary 
thing  on  the  boulevards  to  see  boys,  who  offered 
to  passers-by  the  pleasure  of  setting  at  liberty  captive 
little  birds,  such  as  sparrows,  finches,  and  swallows, 
in  return  for  a  few  centimes.  This  custom,  which  has 
its  origin  in  a  desire  to  propitiate  fortune,  has  of 
late  years  been  adopted  at  the  launch  of  our  battle- 
ships, when,  after  the  Japanese  fashion,  a  paper 
cage  opens  and  liberates  a  number  of  pigeons  as 
the  vessel  glides  into  the  water.  The  liberation  in 
question  is  a  sentimental  superstition,  and  savours 
of  the  vicarious  way  of  compounding  for  sins  taught 
and  practised  in  the  Middle  Ages.  At  St.  Peters- 
burg, towards  the  end  of  the  month  of  May,  baskets 
filled  with  small  birds  used  to  be  seen  in  the  streets, 
and  it  was  considered  a  religious  duty  to  expend 
a  few  copecks  for  permission  to  free  these  feathered 
captives.  In  1858  the  liberation  of  the  birds  had 


126     FANCIES,   FASHIONS,   AND   FADS 

a  political  significance  attached  to  it,  and  the  humbler 
classes,  while  letting  their  purchases  fly,  made  signifi- 
cant allusions,  and  even  prayed  for  the  emancipation 
of  the  peasantry  from  serfdom. 

The  itinerant  shearer  of  poodles  who  used  to 
perambulate  Paris  streets  is,  I  fancy,  obsolete — even 
that  Autolycus  of  the  gutter,  the  chiffonier,  is  but 
a  memory  of  other  days.  In  the  descent  to  obli- 
vion, he  was  long  preceded  by  the  individuals 
who  made  a  precarious  living  by  carrying  ladies 
safely  across  the  swollen  kennel  or  ruisseau  after  a 
shower  of  rain.  For  a  lady  the  fee  was  ten  centimes, 
for  a  child  or  a  pet  poodle  five. 

The  little  open-air  balls  which  at  one  time  abounded 
have  been  succeeded  by  more  ambitious  resorts,  but 
the  populace  still  dances  in  the  streets  on  the  i4th 
of  July,  and  the  open-air  cafe  concerts  still  survive. 

Outdoor  games,  shows,  and  merrymakings  have 
always  been  systematically  sanctioned  and  encouraged 
by  authority ;  and  under  the  Restoration,  when  a 
feeble  effort  was  made  by  the  Government  to  sup- 
press the  popular  suburban  balls,  the  attempt  was 
met  by  the  furious  and  famous  diatribe  of  Paul- Louis 
Courier  against  the  law  which  proposed  "d'empecher 
les  paysans  de  danser  le  Dimanche,"  and  the  pro- 
hibitory legislation  was  abandoned. 

While  the  general  appearance  and  the  habits  of 
the  Parisians  are  very  different  now  from  what  they 
were,  the  old  school  of  English  tourist,  once  so  con- 
spicuous by  reason  of  his  queer  dress  and  uncouth 
manners,  has  in  these  cosmopolitan  days  become 


LEGENDARY   FIGURES  127 

more  or  less  a  mere  recollection,  and  the  hideously 
costumed  females  with  protruding  teeth  and  terrible 
boots  now  only  survive  upon  the  lighter  French 
stage ;  but  for  many  years  after  the  Franco-German 
War  both  of  these  types  were  unsightly  and  disagree- 
able figures  on  the  Continent.  French  people  well 
acquainted  with  England  and  the  high  standard  of 
beauty  which  is  a  characteristic  of  our  women  used 
to  express  surprise  at  the  specimens  they  saw  abroad ; 
some,  indeed,  had  a  sort  of  idea  that  it  was  a  traditional 
English  custom  to  take  care  that  the  bad-looking 
ones  remained  outside  their  native  country.  Perhaps 
the  disappearance  of  the  unpleasant  type  of  female 
from  foreign  capitals  is  owing  to  the  fact  that  she 
can  now  find  a  genial  occupation  at  home  in  con- 
nexion with  one  or  more  of  the  cranky  fads  now 
so  abundant  and  popular. 

The  traditional  English  milor  disappeared  with 
the  Second  Empire,  in  the  last  days  of  which  he 
was  merely  a  legendary  figure.  His  heyday  was  of 
course  the  era  before  railways,  when  rich  Englishmen 
drove  over  the  Continent  in  their  own  carriages, 
accompanied  by  a  number  of  mounted  servants, 
fourgons  carrying  luggage,  and  sometimes  a  portable 
batterie  de  cuisine  and  a  favourite  cook.  Compared 
with  the  rich  peers  who  squandered  money  in  the 
old  pleasure  resorts  of  Paris,  the  milor  of  the 
sixties  cut  a  very  poor  figure  indeed.  His  day  was 
gone  and,  however  rich  he  might  be,  his  wealth  and 
position  gave  him  very  little  power  compared  with 
that  exercised  by  his  predecessor  of  a  previous 


128    FANCIES,   FASHIONS,   AND   FADS 

generation,  who  could  pretty  well  gratify  every 
desire. 

About  the  last  of  the  great  milors  —  iiltimus 
Romanorum — would  seem  to  have  been  Lord  Henry 
Seymour,  the  real  founder  of  the  French  Turf,  who 
in  his  particular  circle  exercised  as  powerful  a  sway 
as  any  absolute  monarch. 

The  Paris  which  I  remember  in  the  early  eighties 
of  the  last  century,  as  far  as  English  visitors 
went,  might  be  said  to  have  been  in  a  transitional 
stage.  While  the  Gay  City  was  not  so  well  known 
to  English  people  as  it  is  now,  the  British  colony, 
quite  a  feature  in  Thackeray's  days,  had  practically 
ceased  to  exist,  and  few  of  our  countrymen  made  a 
practice  of  paying  constant  visits  to  the  Metropolis 
of  Pleasure. 

Even  quite  well-to-do  visitors  were  content  to  pass 
their  time  in  a  way  which  would  almost  arouse 
derision  amongst  the  more  luxurious  generation  of 
to-day.  A  favourite  amusement  of  families  after 
dining  at  table  d'hote  (considered  quite  a  piece 
of  dissipation  by  many,  there  being  then  no 
palatial  hotels  in  England)  was  to  make  a  solemn 
promenade  along  the  Rue  de  Rivoli  and  the  Rue 
de  la  Paix,  the  particular  attraction  being  the 
brilliantly  lit  shop-windows,  which  for  some  reason 
or  other — as  far  as  I  could  make  out,  purchasers 
were  very  rare  after  dinner — then  made  a  practice 
of  keeping  open  very  late.  This,  together  with  an 
inspection  of  the  public  monuments,  a  visit  to  the 
Comedie  Fra^aise  to  see  a  classical  play,  not  one 


THE   RUE   DE   RIVOLI  129 

line  of  which  the  majority  understood,  and  a  few 
drives  in  the  Bois  de  Boulogne,  was  the  programme 
which  the  majority  of  English  visitors  made  a 
practice  of  going  through.  Most  of  them,  being 
firmly  convinced  that  it  didn't  matter  what  one  wore 
abroad,  took  care  to  rig  themselves  out  in  their 
oldest  and  worst  clothes,  a  custom  which  undoubtedly 
contributed  towards  the  unpopularity  of  the  inhabi- 
tants of  "  La  Perfide  Albion  " — unhappy-looking 
figures  who  marched  solemnly  about  Paris,  obviously 
contemptuous  of  all  foreign  ways. 

For  some  years  after  the  war  the  Rue  de  Rivoli 
contained  many  first-class  shops,  the  proprietors  of 
which  tried  hard  to  believe  that  the  prosperity  which 
they  had  once  enjoyed  would  return.  Circumstances, 
however,  were  too  strong  for  them,  and  gradually 
this  agreeable  thoroughfare  became  filled  with  estab- 
lishments selling  odds  and  ends — photographs,  guide- 
books, sham  antiquities,  shoddy  Oriental  goods,  and 
pastilles  de  serail.  A  feature  of  the  cheap  book- 
shops which  has  now  disappeared  was,  I  remember, 
a  little  glass  case  in  the  corner  of  the  window, 
specially  designed  to  attract  English  tourists  of 
Bohemian  tendencies.  In  this  case  were  stored  a 
number  of  small  volumes  in  paper  covers,  the  titles 
of  which  made  an  appeal  to  the  worst  passions  of 
visitors  from  across  the  Channel.  For  the  most 
part  these  little  books  were  merely  bad  abridg- 
ments of  French  novels,  mostly  by  Paul  de  Kock, 
the  title  of  which,  translated  into  English,  conveyed 
the  totally  wrong  impression  that  very  improper 


130     FANCIES,   FASHIONS,   AND   FADS 

reading  was  to  be  found  inside — "  The  Little 
Milliner  with  the  Three  Petticoats,"  if  I  remember 
rightly,  was  one ;  "  The  Mysteries  of  Paris  " — a 
most  inoffensive  work  by  Eugene  Sue — another. 
Side  by  side  with  these  quite  harmless  productions 
were  displayed  a  number  of  flashy-looking  guides 
to  the  amusements  of  Paris,  the  names  of  which 
smacked  of  wild  dissipation.  The  "  Night  Side  of 
Paris,"  and  other  similar  works,  embellished  with 
lurid  frontispieces,  probably  commanded  a  good 
sale ;  but  from  what  I  recollect  of  their  execrably 
written  contents,  the  voluptuaries  who  paid  five 
francs  for  them  must  have  been  woefully  disappointed. 
In  most  cases  the  letterpress  was  a  mere  hash-up 
of  old  stories  of  obsolete  pleasure-resorts,  popular 
under  the  Second  Empire,  interspersed  with  diatribes 
against  vicious-minded  people  in  general,  which 
must  have  been  little  to  the  taste  of  most  of  the 
purchasers  anxious  to  find  out  how  they  could  see 
the  fast  life  of  Paris. 

A  better  class  of  shop  did  a  fairly  brisk  trade  in 
selling  rather  well-executed  miniature  copies  in  oils 
of  the  most  attractive  pictures  in  the  year's  Salon. 
A  distinct  preference  was  generally  shown  for  battle 
scenes  and  nudities,  a  number  of  which,  appropriately 
framed,  were  taken  back  to  England  to  decorate 
the  best  parlours  of  suburban  villas  or  to  be  given 
as  presents  to  provincial  relatives  from  whom  the 
donors  had  expectations. 

Though  fallen  into  a  somewhat  derelict  condition 
since  the  brilliant  days  when  Napoleon  III  had 


THE   TUILERIES  131 

held  his  Court  close  by  in  the  Tuileries,  the  Rue 
de  Rivoli  was  still  an  amusing  street ;  besides  which, 
if  one  strolled  there  one  might  be  certain  to  come 
across  any  English  acquaintance  visiting  Paris. 

As  a  contrast  to  the  somewhat  shoddy  splendour 
of  the  shop-windows,  the  blackened  ruins  of  the 
Tuileries  still  remained — a  striking  reminder  of  the 
terrible  days  of  the  Commune,  still  fresh  in  the  recol- 
lection of  most  Parisians  of  that  day. 

In  old  days  the  beautiful  gardens  were  frequented 
by  many  quaint  characters.  One  of  the  most  original 
of  these  was  "  Le  Marquis  des  Grangers,"  an 
eccentric  old  gentleman,  whose  residence  was  never 
known,  but  who  made  his  appearance  in  the  alley 
of  the  Tuileries  as  regularly  each  year  as  the  orange- 
trees  were  brought  out  of  their  winter  conservatory 
to  bask  in  the  first  rays  of  spring.  He  made  this 
alley  his  daily  resort  from  three  to  five,  and  never 
saw  his  friends  in  any  other  reception-room.  In 
winter  he  disappeared  entirely. 

Before  the  old  stones  and  broken  columns  of  the 
ruined  palace  were  finally  removed,  considerable 
uncertainty  prevailed  as  to  whether  the  Tuileries 
would  be  rebuilt  or  not.  Personally  I  think  the 
present  plan  of  leaving  this  site  a  blank  space — very 
tastefully  laid  out  it  is  true — a  mistake.  Some  day, 
I  hope,  a  new  palace,  or  fine  public  edifice,  will  be 
reared  upon  the  ground  where  in  1564  Philibert 
Delorme  and  Jean  Bullant  constructed  a  central 
pavilion  and  wings  for  Catherine  de  Medicis. 

This  queen,  it  is  curious  to  note,   arriving  at  the 


132    FANCIES,  FASHIONS,   AND   FADS 

conclusion  that  the  site  was  an  unlucky  one,  even- 
tually stopped  her  architects  from  continuing  their 
work.  An  astrological  prediction  had  bidden  her 
beware  of  St.  Germain,  so  realizing  that  the  new 
palace  would  be  in  the  parish  of  St.  Germain 
d'Auxerrois  she  decided  to  abandon  her  scheme. 
In  the  reign  of  Henri  IV,  however,  Ducerreau 
and  Duperac  were  employed  to  complete  the  build- 
ings. Amongst  other  constructions  they  erected 
lofty  pavilions  at  each  end.  Louis  XIII  finished 
the  palace,  the  different  portions  of  which  by  order 
of  the  Rio  Soleil  were  brought  into  harmony  by 
Levan  and  d'Orbay.  Some  further  changes  were 
afterwards  made,  notably  by  Napoleon,  who  in  1808 
built  a  northern  gallery  to  serve  as  a  communication 
with  the  Louvre. 

Napoleon  III  made  considerable  alterations  both 
in  the  Tuileries  and  the  Louvre.  His  taste  was 
not  always  judicious,  but  on  the  whole  the  new 
streets  and  boulevards,  which  owe  their  existence 
to  his  initiative,  are  built  in  a  dignified  and  suitable 
style. 

A  man  of  large  ideas,  he  sought  to  emulate  the 
architectural  magnificence  of  Augustus,  whose  boast 
was  that  he  found  Rome  built  of  brick  and  would 
leave  it  of  marble.  That  Roman  Emperor,  however, 
while  embellishing  his  noble  city,  never  contemplated 
combining  strategical  with  architectural  plans.  The 
Romans,  unlike  the  French  cradled  in  revolution,  were 
ignorant  of  barricades.  From  1789  to  1871  a  certain 
kind  of  Parisian  positively  venerated  paving-stones, 


PLOTS   REAL   AND   UNREAL        133 

while  extremely  partial  to  impromptu  breastworks  of 
anybody's  vehicles  or  furniture. 

At  times,  so  great  was  the  number  of  plots  and 
counter-plots  that  those  responsible  for  order  could  not 
be  certain  what  form  of  government  was  coming  next. 
A  revolutionist  was  once  seized  only  a  few  minutes 
before  an  attempt  was  made  on  Louis  Philippe.  The 
police  had  hardly  done  searching  him  when  the  explo- 
sions were  heard,  upon  which  the  prisoner  exclaimed, 
"  There !  your  citizen  king  has  ceased  to  exist ;  you 
needn't  trouble  yourself  about  me."  Thereupon  one 
of  the  sergents,  struck  with  the  idea  that  in  this  case 
the  man  under  arrest  might  form  part  of  the  next 
Provisional  Government,  said  to  his  captive,  "  Well, 
sir,  whatever  happens,  remember  that  I  treated  you 
like  a  gentleman." 

So  nervous  and  scared  did  the  authorities  become 
that  ridiculous  arrests  were  not  uncommon. 

On  one  occasion  Lord  Henry  Seymour,  being  in 
treaty  for  the  purchase  of  a  carriage,  ordered  his 
servants  to  test  the  solidity  of  the  springs.  They 
loaded  the  carriage  with  several  pieces  of  cast  iron  and 
drove  it  outside  the  Barriere  de  la  Villette,  which  is 
on  the  road  to  Fontainebleau,  in  order  to  look  out  for 
some  rough  ground  over  which  the  carriage  might  get 
a  good  jolting.  On  passing  the  barrier  the  coachman 
said  to  the  octroi  officers,  "  You  will  please  to  observe 
that  we  have  got  some  cast-iron  bars,  and  you  will  not 
make  us  pay  on  them  when  we  come  back."  The 
officers  said  it  would  be  all  right  and  the  carriage 
went  on.  But  presently,  as  the  officers  talked 


134     FANCIES,   FASHIONS,   AND   FADS 

amongst  themselves  at  the  station,  it  struck  some  of 
them  as  suspicious  that  a  carriage  bearing  hollow 
metallic  tubes  should  have  been  driving  at  a  rapid  rate 
on  the  road  to  Fontainebleau.  Visions  of  Orsini 
bombs  arose  before  the  eyes  of  the  most  imaginative  ; 
a  force  of  gendarmes  was  sent  for  to  the  barrier,  and 
when  the  carriage  came  back  the  servants  were 
arrested  and  the  cast-iron  ballast  seized  for  inspection. 

Napoleon  III,  who  till  his  illness  was  an  excessively 
astute  ruler,  left  no  stone  unturned  to  secure  his  own 
safety  and  the  permanence  of  the  Empire.  He  under- 
stood thoroughly  how  dangerous  a  Parisian  mob  could 
be,  and  accordingly  all  the  vaunted  improvements  of 
Paris  were  dictated  and  governed  by  the  supreme  idea 
of  placing  the  whole  of  the  city  under  the  direct 
command  of  the  military  authorities. 

The  first  step  taken  was  to  macadamize  the  leading 
arteries,  the  next  to  widen  them,  and  the  last  to 
embellish  their  fronts  with  structures  of  palatial 
grandeur. 

At  that  time  and  later  much  which  vividly  recalled 
the  turbulent  days  of  the  great  Revolution  disappeared. 

Some  historic  houses  sheltered  queer  tenants  before 
they  fell  before  the  pick  of  Haussmannization.  In  the 
room  in  the  tall  dingy  house  in  the  Rue  de  1'ficole 
de  Me"decine  where  Marat  was  stabbed  to  death  lived, 
in  the  middle  of  the  last  century,  a  Polish  exile  who 
had  invented  a  machine  for  hatching  chickens  by 
electricity,  and  who  would  not  permit  any  one*  to 
enter  his  domicile.  Probably  it  was  full  of  eggs  ;  and 
possibly  he  cared  no  more  about  his  apartment  having 


OLD   PARIS  135 

been  the  deathplace  of  Marat  than  the  late  Mr.  Toole, 
in  a  celebrated  farce,  cared  about  his  second-floor  back 
having  been  the  birthplace  of  Podgers. 

Of  all  great  European  cities,  Paris  changes  her 
aspect  the  most ;  one  old  quarter  after  another  under- 
goes the  process  of  renewing  its  youth,  during  which 
the  pick  of  the  housebreaker  often  destroys  buildings 
of  great  historical  or  romantic  interest.  That  curious 
and  essential  compound  of  East  and  West,  the  late 
General  Tcheng-ki-Tong,  who  had  assimilated  so 
many  ideas  of  the  true  Parisian,  happily  expressed 
what  many  must  have  felt  as  to  the  constant 
transformations  of  the  capital  of  France. 

"  After  a  number  of  years  of  absence,"  wrote  he, 
"  return  to  no  matter  what  city  in  the  world  you  will 
find  it  pretty  much  as  you  left  it,  putting  aside,  of 
course,  a  number  of  new  houses.  Paris  alone 
escapes  this  law  of  stability.  It  is  the  ideal  city  of 
development.  Darwin  ought  to  have  been  a 
Parisian." 

The  demolition  of  Old  Paris  under  the  Empire, 
while  it  improved  sanitation,  also  indirectly  checked 
crime.  Large  masses  of  old  buildings,  squalid  with 
filth  and  crime,  were  swept  away,  while  the  hereditary 
revolutionists  of  Paris,  driven  into  more  accessible 
quarters,  were  dominated  by  the  cannon  of  the  ram- 
parts. Within  easy  distance  was  the  strong  fortress 
of  Vincennes,  and  barracks  built  at  various  strategic 
points  girt  the  whole  of  the  city  like  grim  sentinels. 

An  additional  safeguard  of  public  order  was 
Napoleon  I II 's  carefully  chosen  force  visergents  de  ville, 


136    FANCIES,   FASHIONS,   AND   FADS 

broad-shouldered,  fierce-moustached,  truculent,  with 
cocked  hats  and  long  rapiers.  They  were  intensely 
hated  by  the  dangerous  classes,  whom,  nevertheless, 
they  kept  .in  awe.  On  the  whole  they  did  their  work 
in  a  very  efficient,  if  occasionally  uncompromising, 
manner,  besides  being  more  ornamental  than  the 
modern  gardiens  de  la  paix,  armed  with  sword 
bayonets,  in  their  unobtrusive  uniforms  of  tunic  and 
k£pit  who  saunter  along  the  kerbstones  continually 
taking  notes  about  goodness  knows  what. 

Paris  has  a  wonderful  past,  and  for  the  visitor  who 
has  made  a  hobby  of  studying  its  social  history, 
every  street — nay,  almost  every  stone — has  an  interest 
of  its  own. 

Take,  for  instance,  the  Rue  de  la  Paix,  a  street 
originally  constructed  under  Napoleon  I,  which 
received  its  name  in  memory  of  the  Treaty 
of  Peace  which  the  allied  sovereigns  imposed  upon 
conquered  France  in  1814. 

A  year  later  all  Paris  was  a  hostile  camp.  Our 
Highlanders  bivouacked  in  the  Champs  Elyse*es. 
Lord  Uxbridge's  troopers  picketed  their  horses  in 
the  Bois  de  Boulogne.  The  Russian  headquarters 
were  in  the  Place  Vendome.  The  Austrians  were 
in  the  Champ  de  Mars  and  the  Carrousel.  The 
Prussians  held  the  heights  of  Montmartre. 

In  due  course  they  departed,  only,  however,  to 
return  some  fifty-five  years  later  and  make  a 
triumphal  entry  through  the  magnificent  Arch,  which 
happily  escaped  serious  damage  during  the  siege. 

In   an    old   guide-book    (Galignani's    "  New   Paris 


THE   ARC   DE   TRIOMPHE  137 

Guide,"  1840)  I  find  scrawled  in  pencil  at  the  side 
of  a  page  dealing  with  the  Champs  Elys^es  the 
words,  "The  long  vista  and  broad  walk  ending  with 
the  Triumphal  Arch  beyond  description  fine."  I 
think  this  is  a  very  apt  and  complete  comment  upon 
the  beauty  of  the  most  perfect  thoroughfare  in 
Europe. 

The  Arc  de  Triomphe  is  undoubtedly  the  most 
satisfactory  example  of  modern  work  in  the  classical 
style  in  the  world,  besides  which  the  memories 
evoked  by  it  are  of  supreme  historical  interest.  Not 
the  least  striking,  perhaps,  is  the  recollection  of  the 
handsome  young  German  hussar  officer  who,  riding 
ahead  of  his  victorious  countrymen  upon  the  occasion 
of  their  entry  into  Paris,  galloped  on  till  he  had 
passed  through  the  Arch,  when,  reining  his  horse 
up  sharp,  he  waved  his  sword  in  the  air,  the 
triumphal  gesture  of  the  first  German  in  Paris. 

This  historical  incident,  commemorated  by  a  con- 
temporary illustration  in  the  Graphic,  made,  I  remem- 
ber, a  considerable  impression  upon  my  youthful 
mind.  There  is  an  admirable  description  of  this 
hussar's  entry  in  Blackwood. 

The  entry  of  the  German  Army  into  Paris  was 
a  sad  ordeal  for  patriotic  Parisians.  An  eyewitness 
told  me  that  on  the  whole  the  attitude  of  the  French 
was  dignified  in  the  extreme.  Many  of  the  crowd 
took  old  General  Zimmermann,  who  resembled 
William  I,  for  the  conquering  king. 

The  night  before  the  entry,  my  informant  told  me, 
he  went  to  the  Palais  Royale.  Before  the  piece 


138    FANCIES,   FASHIONS,   AND   FADS 

began,  the  manager,  coming  before  the  curtain,  made 
a  brief  speech  in  which,  after  speaking  with  some 
emotion  of  the  humiliation  which  Paris  was  to 
undergo  next  day,  he  begged  every  one  to  remember 
how  important  it  was  for  France  that  Frenchmen 
should  exhibit  self-restraint.  "  I  entreat  you,"  said 
he,  "  stay  in  your  houses  till  all  is  over." 

Tremendous  applause  greeted  his  address,  the  band 
played  the  "Marseillaise, "every  one  standing  up  much 
moved.  The  curtain  then  rose  upon  a  rattling  farce, 
which  evoked  the  usual  amount  of  laughter,  just  as 
in  ordinary  times.  The  whole  thing  was  highly 
creditable  to  the  French,  and  very  characteristic  of 
the  best  side  of  the  national  character. 

At  the  time  of  the  triumphal  entry  occurred  an 
incident  which,  I  think,  has  not  been  chronicled 
before.  When  the  Bavarians  reached  the  Place  de  la 
Concorde  some  of  them  began  to  sing  the  "  Wacht 
am  Rhein."  The  strains  of  this,  however,  were 
dramatically  mingled  with  those  of  the  "  Marseillaise," 
which,  as  if  the  unconquerable  spirit  of  France  was 
making  reply,  came  faintly  floating  from  the  Pont 
Neuf,  upon  which  a  number  of  the  French  had 
gathered  to  intone  the  splendid  march  of  Rouget  de 
Lisle. 

During  the  siege  and  the  Commune  numbers  of 
people  went  about  their  ordinary  avocations  as  if 
nothing  out  of  the  common  was  taking  place. 

It  is  always  so — a  certain  number  of  individuals 
scarcely  noticed  the  French  Revolution ! 

An  enthusiastic  young  student  of  the  great  social 


SOURCE   BADOIT  139 

upheaval  of  1789,  chancing  to  meet  an  old  gentleman 
who  had  been  in  Paris  during  the  sanguinary  frenzy 
of  the  Terror,  implored  him  to  speak  about  Robes- 
pierre and  Collot  d'Herbois — about  the  Jacobins  and 
the  Furies  of  the  Guillotine.  "  I  troubled  myself  very 
little  about  such  matters,"  merely  replied  the  old 
man.  "  Pendant  ce  temps  la  je  m'occupais  de  la 
conchologie."  Human  heads  were  falling  all  around 
him,  blood  was  flowing  like  water  ;  but  all  these 
horrors  were  powerless  to  disturb  the  old  student  in 
his  placid  study  of  molluscs  and  Crustacea! 

Ultra-patriotic  feeling  was  naturally  very  deep  for 
years  after  the  war ;  in  some  cases  it  rendered  a 
certain  number  of  Frenchmen  almost  ridiculous. 

One  Chauvinist  actually  objected  to  drink  St. 
Galmier  on  the  ground  that  it  came  from  the 
"  Source  Badois  "  and  that  Baden  was  in  Germany. 
His  scruples  were,  however,  removed,  first  by  ex- 
hibiting to  him  a  bottle,  from  the  label  of  which  it 
was  made  manifest  that  the  name  of  the  spring  was 
"Badoit,"  with  a  t  instead  of  an  s\  and  next,  by 
pointing  out  to  him  that  if  the  water  had  been, 
indeed,  of  Teutonic  origin,  "  Source "  happens  to 
be  a  feminine  noun,  and  the  requirements  of  French 
grammar  would  have  demanded  the  substitution  of 
"  Badoise  "  for  "  Badois." 

In  the  early  eighties  Paris  had  not  yet  given  way 
to  the  irrevocable  tendency  of  modern  cities  to  spread 
from  east  to  west. 

In  consonance  with  this  law,  the  fashionable 
quarter  has  within  the  last  four  decades  been  ever 


140    FANCIES,   FASHIONS,   AND   FADS 

moving  westwards,  spreading  to  innumerable  new 
boulevards,  spreading  to  the  Pare  Monceau,  over- 
running the  Champs  Elysees,  and  threatening  to 
overlap  the  Bois  de  Boulogne,  which  happily,  how- 
ever, no  buildings  can  ever  invade. 

This  beautiful  wood,  now  devoted  entirely  to 
pleasure,  has  been  the  scene  of  some  tragic  events 
in  its  day. 

Here,  under  Louis  XV,  two  ladies,  the  Marquise 
de  Nesles  and  Comtesse  de  Polignac,  exchanged 
pistol-shots  on  account  of  their  rivalry  in  the  affec- 
tions of  the  handsome  Due  de  Richelieu.  And  here 
also,  in  1790,  Cuzale's  and  Barnave  fought  a  duel  on 
account  of  a  political  quarrel. 

"  I  should  be  wretched  at  killing  you,"  said  Cuzales, 
"  but  you  bore  us  dreadfully  and  I  should  like  to  stop 
you  speaking  for  some  time." 

"You  are  less  generous  than  I,"  replied  Barnave, 
"for  I  hardly  want  to  touch  you,  since  you  are  the 
only  orator  of  your  party.  Mine  would  hardly  notice 
my  absence !  " 

Amongst  the  many  duels  which  have  taken  place 
in  this  old  wood,  perhaps  the  most  curious  was  the 
encounter  between  Benjamin  Constant  and  Forbin 
des  Essarts,  fought  at  ten  paces,  each  duellist  seated 
in  an  arm-chair. 

During  the  Second  Empire,  when  its  avenues 
and  rides  were  thronged  by  strange  characters  of 
both  sexes,  and  of  every  description,  the  aspect 
of  the  Bois  de  Boulogne  was  far  smarter  than  it  is 
at  present.  There  was  a  tremendous  amount  of 


MABILLE  141 

extravagance ;  still,  luxury  did  not  often  reach  the 
point  of  ostentatious  vulgarity.  The  horses  seen  in 
the  Bois  in  1867-8  were,  as  a  rule,  superb,  but  a 
few  years  later,  after  the  siege,  a  woeful  deterioration 
took  place.  It  was  a  rare  sight  in  the  seventies 
and  eighties  to  see  there  a  piece  of  horseflesh 
worth  so  much  as  a  hundred-pound  note.  Poor 
Napoleon  III,  whatever  may  have  been  his  short- 
comings, certainly  knew  the  "points"  of  a  horse. 
He  was  indeed  an  eminently  "horsey"  sovereign,  and 
his  stud-grooms  were  Englishmen.  The  wealthiest 
and  "  horsiest "  of  foreign  grandees  flocked  to  the 
brilliant  Court  of  the  Tuileries,  and  the  horizontals 
of  Imperial  days — they  were  called  cocottes  then — 
vied  in  the  splendour  of  their  equipages  with  the 
great  ladies,  of  the  Empire  and  the  foreign  Ambassa- 
dresses, just  as,  a  century  ago,  La  Morphise  had 
vied  with  the  Duchesse  de  Valentinois. 

In  the  evening  the  same  ladies  frequented  Mabille, 
the  famous  dancing-place,  which  a  few  years  after 
the  war  was  succeeded  by  the  Jardin  de  Paris. 

Some  few  survivors  of  the  brilliant  Imperial  days 
still  frequented  this  latter  pleasure  resort  in  the 
eighties  ;  it  was  then,  however,  in  a  different  part 
of  the  Champs  Elyse"es  from  where  it  is  to-day. 

I  well  remember  one  veteran,  the  famous  dancer 
of  quadrilles  known  as  Valentin  le  Desosse",  who 
occasionally  footed  it  at  the  Moulin  Rouge  and  the 
Jardin  de  Paris.  He  was  an  entirely  different  type 
of  man  from  the  ordinary  paid  dancer  of  Parisian 
public  halls,  and  in  the  days  of  La  Goulue,  Grille 


142     FANCIES,    FASHIONS,   AND   FADS 

d'Egout,  Rayon  d'Or,  Nini-Patte-en-l'Air,  and  other 
high-kicking  ladies,  had  a  wide  reputation  as  being 
the  last  representative  of  the  old  school  who,  under 
the  Empire,  had  danced  for  pleasure  more  than  for 
pay  at  Mabille  and  Valentino's  with  Clodoche  and 
Flageolet.  I  never  saw  any  one  like  him  ;  he  really 
did  dance  for  the  joy  of  the  thing.  His  sardonic 
expression  and  quaint  appearance  in  an  old-fashioned 
frock-coat,  top-hat  with  a  flat  brim,  and  huge  butter- 
fly bow  tie,  a  cigarette  always  between  his  lips,  was 
highly  characteristic.  Nevertheless,  there  was  some- 
thing dignified  about  him,  and  his  entrain  and  supple- 
ness were  marvellous  ;  lithe  as  a  serpent,  he  twisted 
in  and  out  in  the  quadrille,  to  which  he  always  at- 
tracted an  appreciative  crowd. 

When  old  age  absolutely  prevented  his  dancing, 
Valentin  le  Desosse  bade  farewell  to  his  beloved 
quadrilles  and  busied  himself  with  the  sale  of  wine ; 
he,  who  had  passed  so  many  nights  in  a  perpetual 
whirl,  took  to  returning  home  every  evening  at 
six  o'clock! 

Still  alert,  though  verging  upon  seventy,  M.  Jules 
Renaudin  went  out  every  day  to  take  a  ride  on 
horseback,  this  being  the  only  way  in  which  he 
could  yet  honourably  play  the  "Cavalier  seul,"  of 
which  as  Valentin  le  Desosse"  he  had  been  such  an 
undoubted  master. 

After  having  witnessed  so  many  scenes  of  unbridled 
revelry,  in  his  last  years  he  became  highly  interested 
in  children.  To  all  the  urchins  who  lived  near  his 
house  he  behaved  like  a  kindly  grandfather.  They 


PAULUS  143 

knew  the  trim,  sharp,  spare  figure  whose  rugged 
face  always  lit  up  when  he  heard  them  say  "  Bonjour, 
Grand  Pere." 

The  old  dancer  died  not  so  many  years  ago  a 
peaceable  and  sedate  citizen  of  the  small  town  of 
Sceaux,  where  he  had  been  wise  enough  to  go 
and  seek  a  calm  retreat  for  his  old  age. 

Another  interesting  figure  in  the  Paris  of  the 
day  before  yesterday  was  Paulus.  Curiously  enough, 
this  clever  singer,  though  for  a  time  the  idol  of 
Paris,  did  not  have  any  great  success  during  one 
or  two  visits  which  he  made  to  London.  His  art, 
and  I  think  in  his  own  time  he  was  a  real  artist, 
was  essentially  calculated  to  appeal  to  the  Parisians, 
and  in  another  country,  speaking  a  different  language, 
he  was  entirely  lost.  Nevertheless,  I  think  all  who, 
like  myself,  have  heard  him  at  his  best  will  agree 
that  he  was  inconceivably  ahead  of  any  Cafe  Concert 
star  of  his  or  any  other  day. 

He  had  a  countenance  of  a  somewhat  Napoleonic 
type  (of  which  he  was  very  proud)  and  a  neat  figure 
well  set  off  by  a  simple  costume,  the  main  feature 
of  which  was  a  well-cut  blue  swallow-tail  coat.  His 
intonation,  though  that  of  the  Midi  from  whence 
he  came,  was  beautifully  clear  and  not  guttural,  while 
his  action  while  singing  was  wonderfully  adapted  to 
the  subject  of  which  he  sang.  In  addition  to  this, 
he  conveyed  the  impression  of  strength,  vitality, 
and  love  of  his  work.  Oddly  enough,  though 
Paulus  achieved  an  immense  success,  his  songs 
were  far  more  restrained  and  decorous  than  those 


144    FANCIES,   FASHIONS,   AND   FADS 

of  the  other  Caf6  Concert  singers  of  his  time.  His 
tunes,  it  should  be  added,  were  almost  invariably 
good,  the  best  of  all  being  the  famous  "  Pere  la 
Victoire,"  in  which  there  was  a  good  deal  of  the 
real  spirit  of  patriotism.  "  Petit  Bleu,"  a  valse  song 
in  praise  of  light  French  wine,  was  also  far  above 
the  level  of  most  Cafe"  Concert  songs.  The  cele- 
brated "  En  Revenant  de  la  Revue,"  which  did  so 
much  for  General  Boulanger  (I  still  seem  to  hear 
the  public  of  the  Concert  des  Ambassadors  cheering 
the  last  lines  telling  of  "  le  brav'  G£ne>al  Boulanger  ") 
was,  on  the  other  hand,  rather  a  poor  composition. 
Its  popularity,  I  think,  was  largely  owing  to  the 
fact  that  it  really  did  describe  the  doings,  or  what 
the  public  imagined  might  be  the  doings,  of  a 
French  lower  middle-class  family  after  witnessing 
the  great  Longchamps  review. 

The  end  of  poor  Paulus,  who,  in  his  time,  gave 
pleasure  of  a  healthy,  virile  sort  to  thousands,  was 
rather  an  unhappy  one. 

Not  content  to  be  the  shining  constellation  of  the 
Cafe*  Concert,  he  went  into  management  and  became 
the  proprietor  of  the  Bataclan,  a  rather  second-rate 
sort  of  music-hall,  which  he  was  never  able  to  make 
pay.  This  unfortunate  enterprise,  together  with  a 
wine  business  in  which  he  was  foolishly  induced  to 
dabble,  eventually  ran  away  with  pretty  well  all  his 
savings.  He  fell  into  ill-health  and  could  not  command 
his  old  salary  when  he  tried  to  sing  again.  Finally,  a 
broken-down  invalid,  he  retired  to  the  Midi  where  he 
had  first  seen  the  light,  and  shortly  afterwards  died  in 


BOULANGER  145 

the  arms  of  a  devoted  friend  who  had  soothed  his  last 
hours. 

Of  the  ill-fated  General,  for  whom  Paulus's  song 
had  done  so  much,  I  saw  a  good  deal  at  the  old 
Hotel  de  Louvre.  Here  he  lived  for  a  time,  and 
once  or  twice  he  was  accorded  a  sort  of  small  ovation 
as  in  full  uniform  he  descended  the  great  staircase 
into  the  courtyard.  Most  of  the  staff  of  the  hotel, 
however,  were  not  at  all  impressed  by  him  or  his 
methods.  I  well  remember  being  told  that  the  changes 
which  he  made  in  the  equipment  of  the  French  Army 
merely  put  money  into  certain  people's  pockets.  They 
certainly  did  one  thing,  which  was  to  keep  the  General's 
name  before  the  public.  The  changes  in  question,  as 
far  as  I  can  recollect,  consisted  in  painting  the  sentry- 
boxes  red,  white,  and  blue,  allowing  soldiers  to  wear 
beards  and  giving  them  latitude  in  the  matter  of 
gloves.  Besides  this,  alterations  mostly  useless  and 
inartistic,  were  made  in  uniforms.  At  one  time  great 
excitement  was  caused  by  the  announcement  that  the 
gendarmerie  was  to  have  its  traditional  headdress,  the 
cocked  hat,  worn  en  battaille,  replaced  by  a  helmet  of 
General  Boulanger's  own  design.  There  was  great 
opposition  to  the  idea  of  any  innovation  of  the  sort 
and  the  proposal  was  dropped.  Since  then  the  cocked 
hat  has  gone.  I  suppose  it  would  seem  even  more 
ridiculous  to  English  travellers  of  to-day  than  it  did 
to  their  predecessors,  who  used  to  laugh  at  what  they 
called  the  Punch-like  appearance  of  the  gendarme 
who,  with  his  yellow  belt  and  huge  sword,  was  one 
of  the  first  figures  which  struck  their  sight  on  the  old 
landing-stage  at  Calais  ? 


146     FANCIES,   FASHIONS,   AND   FADS 

General  Boulanger,  though  he  may  have  wanted 
to  do  away  with  the  cocked  hat  of  the  gendarmes, 
fully  understood  the  artistic  value  of  his  own  general's 
cocked  hat  and  handsome  uniform.  He  certainly  cut 
a  fine  figure  on  his  black  horse  Tunis  at  the  famous 
Longchamps  review. 

For  a  time  it  really  seemed  as  if  the  brav  Ge'ne'ral 
might  succeed,  but  from  the  evening  when  he  failed 
to  march  upon  the  Elysee  his  fortunes  steadily  de- 
clined 

The  story  of  that  famous  evening  when  General 
Boulanger  with  his  friends  at  Durand's  was  expected 
to  sally  forth  by  the  crowds  assembled  outside,  I 
heard  from  the  lips  of  the  proprietor,  M.  Sylvain,  who, 
before  retiring  to  a  country  house  at  Brie  Comte 
Robert,  where  I  hope  he  still  flourishes,  entertained 
me  at  lunch  in  the  very  room  where  the  famous 
dinner  had  taken  place.  He  described  to  me  the 
enthusiastic  crowd  beneath  the  windows,  the  exulta- 
tion of  the  Boulangists,  and  how  it  gradually  turned 
to  dismay  as  they  saw  their  leader's  disinclination  to 
march,  culminating  in  complete  despair  as  they  saw 
that  nothing  would  make  him  take  immediate  action. 
"  Alors"  said  M.  Sylvain,  "  le  Ge'ne'ral  a  pris  son 
paletot,  et  le  mouvement  Boulangiste  e"tait  mort" 

As  a  matter  of  fact  Boulanger,  as  I  happen  to 
know  from  one  who  was  deep  in  the  counsels  of 
the  opposing  party,  was  far  better  informed  as  to 
the  reception  which  awaited  him  at  the  Presidential 
Palace  than  his  followers.  A  considerable  number  of 
picked  soldiers,  every  one  of  them  heart  and  soul 


M.   CONSTANS  147 

devoted  to  the  Republic,  were  stowed  away  in  various 
parts  of  the  building,  from  which  they  could  havo 
fired  with  deadly  effect.  The  arrangements  in  case 
of  attack  were  far  more  complete  than  any  one  had 
any  idea  of  except  the  President,  M.  Constans,  his 
lieutenants,  and  General  Boulanger  himself,  whom  the 
Minister  of  the  Interior,  with  his  usual  astuteness, 
took  care  should  know  through  the  medium  of  certain 
casual  acquaintances,  apparently  mere  irresponsible 
chatterboxes,  but  in  reality  clever  spies,  who,  while 
keeping  the  Republicans  informed  of  everything  which 
went  on  in  the  Boulangist  camp,  on  occasion  fright- 
ened the  General  by  letting  slip,  as  if  by  accident, 
news  of  stern  measures  about  to  be  put  in  force  by  his 
opponents. 

One  of  the  greatest  stumbling-blocks  to  Boulanger's 
success  was  the  fact  of  the  Military  Governor  of  Paris 
being  opposed  to  him.  Besides  this,  the  troops,  who 
had  been  carefully  canvassed  by  clever  spies,  were  on 
the  whole  faithful  to  the  Republic. 

The  Government  and  General  Boulanger  knew 
this,  the  mass  of  the  Boulangist  party  did  not. 

At  every  turn  the  General  was  confronted  by  the 
clever  machinations  of  the  astute  and  well  informed 
M.  Constans,  who  eventually  put  his  adversary 
to  complete  rout.  Nothing  could  have  been  more 
methodical  than  the  way  the  former  managed  the 
electoral  campaign,  the  result  of  which  practically 
ended  the  General's  career. 

Some  time  before  the  election,  M.  Constans, 
summoning  his  agents,  spread  out  the  map  of 


148    FANCIES,   FASHIONS,  AND  FADS 

France  upon  a  table  before  them,  after  which  he 
proceeded  to  mark  the  Departments  with  a  pencil. 

"  These,  gentlemen,"  said  he,  indicating  various 
Boulangist  strongholds,  "are  hopeless,  and  therefore 
it  is  useless  to  spend  a  sou  in  trying  to  win  them. 
They  should  be  placed  in  the  same  category  with 
these  other  Departments  which,  as  they  are  absolutely 
certain  to  return  our  candidates,  should  make  no 
tax  whatever  upon  our  war  chest. 

"  Now  we  come  to  the  doubtful  Departments — 
to  win  these  we  should  concentrate  all  our  energies 
and  spend  all  our  funds.  Do  as  I  say,  and  victory 
is  assured." 

The  eventual  success  of  his  party  at  the  polls 
showed  how  rightly  M.  Constans  gauged  the  situa- 
tion. Once  the  campaign  had  begun  he  neglected 
no  means  to  defeat  the  Boulangist  party.  Some  of 
the  methods  employed  would  have  appealed  to 
English  boroughmongers  of  the  eighteenth  century, 
and  quite  a  number  of  seats  were  won  by  cunning 
diplomacy. 

In  a  certain  constituency  of  considerable  importance 
secret  service  agents  reported  "that  a  redoubtable 
prop  of  Boulangism  was  a  certain  lawyer,  who, 
owing  to  his  excellent  relations  with  the  small 
farmers  and  peasants,  would  exercise  great  influence 
upon  the  result  of  the  election.  This  lawyer,  though 
well  off,  lived  very  simply  and  knew  little  of  Paris. 
His  wife  for  some  time  past  had  been  suffering 
from  some  obscure  malady  which  the  local  doctors 
were  unable  to  diagnose."  In  consequence  of  this 


AN    INTERESTING    INVALID        149 

report  a  great  Parisian  doctor,  known  to  be  devoted 
to  the  Republic,  was  sent  off  to  stay  as  a  friend 
with  a  gentleman,  secretly  also  of  strong  anti- 
Boulangist  principles,  who  lived  not  far  from  the 
lawyer,  to  call  upon  whom  the  doctor  was  taken 
shortly  after  his  arrival. 

During  the  visit  the  host,  speaking  enthusiastically 
of  the  certainty  of  triumph  for  le  brav  General 
at  the  polls,  said  the  only  thing  which  now  de- 
pressed him  was  the  continued  indisposition  of  his 
wife,  which  medical  advice  seemed  powerless  to  cure. 

"Will  you  let  me  see  her?"  said  the  doctor.  "I 
have  a  large  practice  in  Paris,  and  possibly  I  may 
be  able  to  throw  some  light  upon  the  case.  I  may 
add  that  I  shall  esteem  it  a  favour  to  be  allowed 
to  see  her,  not  as  a  medical  man,  but  as  a  friend." 

The  lawyer,  delighted,  took  the  doctor  to  the 
sick-room,  and  the  latter,  after  making  a  prolonged 
and  careful  examination  of  the  patient,  begged  to 
be  allowed  to  see  her  again  in  three  days,  in  order 
to  be  able  to  give  a  definite  opinion. 

Meanwhile  he  reported  to  the  wire-pullers  in  Paris 
that  the  woman's  malady  was  not  serious,  and  he 
felt  sure  that  he  could  cure  her  with  great  ease — 
what  was  he  to  do  ?  The  answer  came  back : 
44  Cure  the  woman,  but  do  not  cure  her  too  quickly — 
bring  her  up  to  Paris  and  arrange  that  the  husband 
should  visit  her  there  at  frequent  intervals." 

The  doctor  in  due  course  went  to  the  lawyer's 
house,  and  after  another  and  prolonged  examination 
of  the  invalid,  told  the  husband  that  he  had  dis- 


150    FANCIES,   FASHIONS,   AND   FADS 

covered  what  was  the  matter.  "  Madame,"  said  he, 
"  will  never  get  well  in  the  country ;  she  needs 
most  careful  attention  from  specialists  who  could 
not  come  down  here.  Her  case,  I  may  add,  is  so 
interesting  that  I  should  esteem  it  a  favour  to  be 
allowed  to  take  her  to  Paris  and  put  her  into  good 
health  without  making  any  charge.  Rest  assured 
she  shall  be  well  looked  after,  and  I  hope,  monsieur, 
that  from  time  to  time  you  will  do  me  the  honour 
of  being  a  guest  under  my  roof,  in  order  that  you 
may  see  how  she  is  getting  on." 

The  woman  was  taken  to  Paris  and  placed  in  a 
luxurious  "  home,"  where  she  was  kept  for  six  weeks 
till  the  eve  of  the  elections.  During  that  time  her 
husband  came  frequently  to  see  her,  being  on  every 
occasion  regally  entertained  and  brought  in  contact 
with  clever  and  diplomatic  agents  of  the  anti-Boulan- 
gist  party.  The  result  of  all  this  was  that  gradually 
the  lawyer  quite  lost  faith  in  Boulanger,  and  eventually 
went  all  over  his  district  exhorting  every  one  he  had 
ever  met  to  vote  for  the  Republican  candidate,  who, 
principally  owing  to  the  lawyer's  influence,  came  in 
by  a  large  majority. 

This  was  one  instance  out  of  many  of  the  astute  if 
rather  unscrupulous  ways  in  which  the  Republic  was 
saved. 

As  a  matter  of  fact  it  is  very  doubtful  whether 
the  people  of  France  as  a  whole  would  ever  have 
tolerated  any  attempt  to  substitute  any  other  form 
of  Government. 

In  spite  of  considerable  peculation  and  intermittent 


FRENCH    RULE  151 

tripotage  the  Republican  regime  is  certainly  not 
unpopular  among  the  proletariat,  who,  in  spite  of 
showering  abuse  (for  the  most  part  no  doubt  quite 
deservedly)  upon  politicians,  are  perfectly  contented 
with  the  present  regime. 

In  spite  of  many  tedious  formalities  which  are  the 
results  of  a  somewhat  overdeveloped  system  of 
bureaucracy,  French  rule  is  amazingly  popular  as 
compared  with  that  of  any  other  nation.  Love  of 
France,  it  is  said,  of  late  years  has  increased  rather 
than  diminished  in  the  lost  provinces  of  Alsace  and 
Lorraine,  many  inhabitants  of  which  have  made 
enormous  sacrifices  in  order  to  remain  Frenchmen. 

Sentiment  of  course  plays  a  large  part  in  this 
romantic  attachment  for  France,  but  the  question  of 
sentiment  does  not  concern  the  Savoyards,  who,  in 
reality  Italian  by  race,  are  happy  and  proud  to  be 
Frenchmen  by  nationality. 

At  the  time  of  the  late  President  Carnot's  assassi- 
nation, when  discussing  the  crime  with  a  Savoyard 
boatman  on  Lac  Bourget,  I  was  astounded  to  hear 
the  way  in  which  he  spoke  of  the  Italians — as  he 
said,  countrymen  of  the  assassin. 

Murderers,  thieves,  swindlers — no  term  of  abuse 
did  he  leave  unemployed — at  the  same  time  express- 
ing the  greatest  delight  that  his  dear  Savoy  formed 
part  of  France. 

Since  1789  the  French  have  tried  so  many  forms 
of  government  that  they  may  be  said  to  respect 
none. 

Driving  back  from   Longchamps  after  the   Grand 


152     FANCIES,   FASHIONS,   AND   FADS 

Prix  not  many  years  ago,  I  was  much  amused  at  the 
anger  of  my  cocker  when  his  fiacre  was  forced  to 
draw  aside  in  order  to  let  the  Presidential  carriage 
go  by.  In  a  furious  rage  the  man  called  poor  M. 
Faillieres  every  insulting  name  he  could  think  of; 
he  then  went  on  to  denounce  public  men  in  general — 
tas  de  voleurs,  who  passed  their  lives  swindling 
the  poor !  And  what  scandalous  salaries  these  salops 
received.  I  pointed  out  that  at  any  rate  the  Presi- 
dent, who  was  merely  preceded  by  a  few  bicycle  police, 
did  not  keep  up  any  wasteful  state ;  but  far  from 
soothing  the  cabman,  this  made  him  more  angry,  his 
idea  being,  as  far  as  I  could  make  out,  that  the  Presi- 
dent of  the  Republic  ought  to  give  the  people  some 
show  for  their  money.  I  then  asked  him  did  he  think 
he  would  like  a  Louis  XIV  better?  To  this,  after  a 
moment's  hesitation,  he  replied,  "  Yes."  The  men- 
tion of  the  Rio  Soleil,  indeed,  quite  soothed  him  down, 
and  putting  his  long-suffering  horse  into  a  gentle  trot, 
he  jogged  peacefully  back  to  Paris  in  a  capital  temper. 
The  fact  is,  in  spite  of  their  democratic  ideas,  the 
French  have  an  idea  that  a  president  is  a  sort  of 
rather  expensive  second-class  imitation  of  a  king. 

Most  of  the  Presidents  of  the  French  Republic, 
indeed,  have  been  regarded  with  the  greatest  indiffer- 
ence. M.  GreVy  was  always  being  sneered  at  for  his 
love  of  economy  ;  he  was  never  liked.  Sadi  Carnot, 
however,  partly  by  reason  of  his  name  and  partly  by 
reason  of  his  sympathetic  personality,  did  attain  to 
some  degree  of  popularity,  while  his  tragic  death  at 
Lyons  evoked  a  good  deal  of  real  sympathy.  The  cir- 


SADI   CARNOT  153 

cumstances  of  his  terrible  end — stabbed  by  the  dagger 
of  the  infamous  Caserio,  who,  on  the  pretext  of  offering 
a  bouquet  of  flowers,  climbed  on  to  the  step  of  the 
presidential  landau,  proved  that  the  state  carriage- 
builders  of  the  past,  who  built  chariots  with  bodies 
suspended  a  good  way  from  the  ground,  had  their  wits 
about  them.  Had  the  poor  President  been  driving  in 
an  old-fashioned  conveyance  of  this  sort  he  would 
most  probably  have  escaped.  By  some  mischance 
that  fatal  day  President  Carnot  had  elected  to  use  a 
landau,  hung  low  with  a  fixed  step — a  high  slung 
vehicle  with  step  folded  up  when  the  carriage  was 
in  motion  would  have  baffled  the  designs  of  the 
assassin. 

Sadi  Carnot,  endowed  oddly  enough  with  a  coun- 
tenance of  rather  a  Persian  type,  had  not  the  appear- 
ance of  a  lucky  man.  I  remember  seeing  him  at 
Longchamps  and  noting  his  sad,  almost  melancholy, 
look.  He  was  a  good  President,  and  partly  no  doubt 
on  account  of  his  name,  which  recalled  the  glorious 
doings  of  the  Republican  armies,  enjoyed  a  much 
larger  share  of  popularity  than  his  predecessor  or 
successors. 

The  state  funeral  which  was  accorded  to  him  was 
a  wonderful  affair.  I  watched  it  literally  for  hours 
as  it  passed  along  the  Rue  de  Rivoli.  As  a  matter 
of  fact,  it  never  had  any  actual  end,  for  there  were 
so  many  deputations,  etc.,  that  the  latter  portion  of 
the  procession — a  confused  mass — broke  up  before 
it  got  anywhere  near  Notre  Dame.  Lord  Dufferin,  I 
remember,  was  a  conspicuous  figure  among  the 


154     FANCIES,   FASHIONS,   AND   FADS 

diplomats,  all  of  them  on  foot.  He  was  dressed 
in  the  scarlet  coatee  of  a  lord-lieutenant,  the  effect 
of  which  picturesque  old-world  dress  he  had,  however, 
completely  spoilt  by  substituting  an  Indian  feathered 
solar  topee — the  cocked  hat  is  of  course  an  essential 
feature  of  the  uniform  he  wore  that  day. 

The  authorities  were  very  apprehensive  of  some 
Anarchist  outrage  on  the  line  of  route,  and  in  the 
Place  du  Palais  Royale,  the  guns  of  the  horse 
artillery  were  loaded  ready  to  fire  in  case  of  need, 
while  the  soldiers  stood  by  armed  as  on  active  service. 
Before  the  procession  arrived  there  was  a  considerable 
display  of  military  force;  dragoons  kept  galloping  up 
and  down  the  street,  pushing  back  stragglers  into 
the  road  in  anything  but  a  gentle  manner.  The 
theatrical  instinct  of  the  French,  generally  to  the  fore 
on  such  occasions,  was  in  this  instance,  I  remember, 
exemplified  by  a  handsome  young  general  who, 
sitting  his  horse  well,  intermittently  cantered  from 
point  to  point,  accompanied  by  a  brilliantly  uniformed 
staff. 

For  some  time  after  the  death  of  President  Carnot 
stringent  precautions  were  taken  to  protect  public  men 
in  France.  I  remember  seeing  Casimir  Perier 
driving  along  the  Boulevard  closely  surrounded  by 
a  large  escort  of  Cuirassiers,  each  man  near  the 
carriage  holding  a  loaded  revolver  in  his  right  hand. 
Altogether  an  extraordinary  state  of  affairs  prevailed 
during  this  anarchist  craze — the  real  history  of  which 
movement,  I  fancy,  will  never  be  written ;  there 
is,  however,  little  doubt  but  that  the  peril  was 


ANARCHISM  155 

somewhat  exaggerated  by  various  persons  having 
political  axes  to  grind,  some  of  whom  even  went  so 
far  as  to  manufacture  bogus  outrages  in  order  to 
serve  personal  ends.  There  were,  of  course,  a  number 
of  true  anarchists,  dangerous  characters  who,  like 
Michel  Bakounine,  the  founder  of  their  strange  and 
incoherent  creed,  were  mainly  swayed  by  inordinate 
ambition  and  an  inordinate  desire  to  attract  public 
attention  by  no  matter  what  means.  In  these  days, 
when  all  sorts  of  cranky  fools  are  taken  seriously, 
the  story  of  the  founder  of  the  anarchist  party  is 
well  worth  remembering.  A  Russian  aristocrat,  he 
left  the  army  at  an  early  age  to  study  the  works  of 
Hegel  and  Schopenhauer,  and  settling  at  Moscow, 
came  in  contact  with  many  clever  young  men,  a 
number  of  whom,  such  as  Alexander  Herzen,  the 
romantic  revolutionary  who  founded  the  Kolokol  in 
London,  Bjelinski,  afterwards  a  great  Liberal 
publicist,  the  Panslavist  brothers  Aksakoff,  and 
Katkoff,  in  later  years  director  of  the  Moscow  Gazette 
and  chief  of  the  old  Russian  party,  cut  a  considerable 
figure  in  the  world.  The  various  ideas  and  con- 
victions of  his  friends  seem  to  have  entirely  muddled 
Bakounine's  brain. 

At  one  time  he  was  a  fervent  Panslavist  (in  the 
contemporary  Larousse  he  is  described  as  Bakounine, 
" patriote  russe  "),  at  another,  influenced  by  Herzen, 
he  was  wildly  socialistic  and  revolutionary.  Every- 
thing he  did  was  indeed  a  contradiction — pessimist, 
socialist,  and  internationalist  in  theory,  in  practice 
he  was  nothing  of  the  sort.  A  warm  advocate  of  the 


156    FANCIES,   FASHIONS,   AND   FADS 

restoration  of  the  ancient  kingdom  of  Poland,  he  took 
part  in  the  Panslavist  Congress  held  at  Prague  in 
1848,  where  he  sat  cheek  by  jowl  with  Vladika  of 
Montenegro — pensioner  of  the  Czar  and  representa- 
tive of  the  Servian  Prince — together  with  many  others 
who  had  not  the  least  sympathy  with  democracy.  A 
year  or  two  later  he  took  part  in  the  Saxon  revolution 
and  was  only  saved  from  execution  by  Russia,  which, 
for  some  reason  or  other,  got  him  handed  over  to  her 
and  sent  him  to  Siberia  in  1851.  In  1 86 1,  however, 
he  was  in  London,  and  the  next  year  once  more  he 
was  pleading  for  Panslavism.  A  few  years  later 
began  his  struggle  with  Carl  Marx,  which  at  first 
resulted  in  the  triumph  of  the  latter  at  the  Hague 
Congres  de  1' Internationale  in  1872.  Bakounine 
being  a  refugee  in  Switzerland,  and  France  and 
Germany,  through  which  he  would  have  had  to  pass, 
being  closed  to  him,  he  could  not  appear  to  meet  his 
rival  face  to  face. 

In  1873,  however,  when  the  "Congres"  was  held 
at  Geneva,  Bakounine  routed  his  enemy,  whose 
principles  were  discarded  by  the  majority  in  favour 
of  his  antagonist's  wild  ideas,  mainly  resting  upon 
federalism  and  active  opposition  to  all  authority. 
Bakounine's  Anarchism  is  entirely  different  from 
Revolutionary  Socialism,  Collectivism,  or  Positivism 
— as  a  matter  of  fact  it  is  little  more  than  a  wild 
chaotic  and  destructive  nightmare. 

After  Bakounine's  death,  in  1876,  Elisee  Reclus, 
Paul  Brousse,  and  others  carried  on  the  propaganda. 
Soon,  however,  the  anarchists  split  into  two  parties. 


EVERYBODY   OWNS   EVERYTHING     157 

The  first,  entirely  negative  in  its  ideas,  may  be  said 
to  have  arrived  at  nothing,  its  programme  being 
aimed  against — 

1.  Property,    capital,    the   exploitation   of  man   by 
man. 

2.  The  idea  of  a  fatherland,  no  more  frontiers  or 
wars  between  nations. 

3.  The    State    war  against   all   authority,    whether 
elected  or  not,  dynastic,  or  constitutional. 

The  second  party  was  more  affirmative  in  character, 
its  two  chief  principles  being,  however — 

1.  Do  as  you  like,  and 

2.  Everything  belongs  to  everybody. 

It  was  in  1876  that  two  Italian  anarchists  first 
mooted  the  idea  of  propaganda  by  deed.  At  the 
Congres  of  that  year,  Carlo  Capiero  and  Enrico 
Malatesta  read  a  declaration,  in  which  they  set  forth 
that  the  insurrectional  deed  destined  to  affirm  socialist 
principles  by  acts  is  the  only  effectual  method  of 
propaganda.  The  next  year  both  these  men  converted 
their  words  into  deeds  by  heading  a  revolt  in  Italy 
and  burning  the  archives  of  Tetino  and  San  Galo. 
This  was  the  earliest  outrage  produced  strictly  by  the 
monstrous  and  insane  creed,  the  devotees  of  which 
hailed  Ravachol  and  Vaillant  as  ill-used  martyrs. 

For  a  considerable  period  of  time  Anarchism  was 
an  ever-present  danger,  real  or  supposed,  to  the 
Parisians.  Once,  however,  that  the  Dreyfus  affair 
had  begun  to  run  its  course  little  more  was  heard  of  it. 

The  whole  "affaire"  arose  through  racial  hatred 
and  the  personal  unpopularity  of  Captain  Dreyfus. 


158    FANCIES,   FASHIONS,   AND   FADS 

A  Frenchman  who  had  held  high  office  under  the 
Republic  and  who  had  been  at  the  Ecole  Polytechnique 
with  Dreyfus,  told  me  that  the  latter  was  always  cor- 
dially disliked  by  his  fellow-students.  While  nothing 
in  particular  could  be  brought  against  him,  his 
unsympathetic  manner  and  ways,  and  his  habit  of 
poking  his  nose  into  matters  which  did  not  concern 
him,  made  him  an  object  of  general  detestation,  while 
he  was  suspected  of  being  capable  of  any  dirty  trick. 

Walking  on  the  Boulevard  at  the  time  when 
"T affaire"  was  first  beginning,  the  above-mentioned 
Frenchman  having  read  a  placard  "  Trahison  (fun 
Officier  Juif "  at  once  said  to  his  friend  (also  an  old 
Polytechnicien),  "  I  bet  you  that's  Dreyfus." 

"I'm  certain  of  it,"  was  the  reply;  "and  also 
certain  of  something  else,  which  is,  that  he  is  not 
guilty." 

The  truth  of  the  latter  remark  is  now  generally 
acknowledged. 

Captain  Dreyfus  in  matters  of  routine  was  a  first- 
rate  officer.  No  battery  was  kept  in  better  order 
than  his.  He  had,  however,  no  tact,  and  retained 
his  old  student  habit  of  rummaging  about  after  matters 
which  did  not  concern  him.  Not  unnaturally  (the 
more  so  as  he  was  the  first  Jew  ever  appointed  to  the 
General  Staff),  he  was  thoroughly  unpopular  with  his 
colleagues.  His  persecution  and  trials  are  now  mere 
matters  of  history.  All  that  can  be  said  is  that 
Dreyfus,  besides  having  the  misfortune  of  possessing 
an  unsympathetic  nature,  had  the  even  worse  one 
of  being  a  most  unlucky  man. 


ZOLA  159 

The  only  good  which  resulted  from  the  whole 
miserable  affair  was  to  show  the  splendid  character  of 
Emile  Zola. 

At  the  time  of  the  second  Dreyfus  trial,  in 
consideration  of  his  noble  fight  for  justice,  he  received 
from  some  admirers  a  medal  on  which  was  inscribed 
a  fine  saying  of  William  the  Silent : 

"  //  nest  pas  ndcessaire  d'espdrer  pour  entreprendre 
ni  de  rdussir  pour  per  severer" 


VI 
ART,  YESTERDAY  AND  TO-DAY 

I   FANCY  that  at  heart  most  English  people  think 
that  applied  art,  that  is  to  say  fine  architecture  and 
the  like,  is  something  that  matters  very  little — is 
not  worth  troubling  about,   in  fact! 

We  spend  millions  on  educational  schemes,  the 
results  of  which  are  in  a  large  degree  futile,  and  at 
the  same  time  do  little  or  nothing  to  promote  one  of 
the  very  best  forms  of  education,  which  is  an  apprecia- 
tion of  artistic  and  harmonious  design  in  architecture 
and  things  in  ordinary  use.  Notwithstanding  our 
boasted  progress,  the  taste  of  the  people  at  large  is 
hopelessly  below  that  of  their  predecessors  of  the  eigh- 
teenth century.  Pictures  of  public  rejoicings  of  that 
date  show  that  the  decorations  customary  on  such  occa- 
sions were  always  appropriate  and  often  artistic;  under 
similar  circumstances  to-day,  poverty  of  design  and 
tawdry  details  are  invariably  predominant.  The 
people  of  the  eighteenth  century  always  had  a  style, 
sometimes  no  doubt  feeble,  but  yet  a  style.  We 
of  to-day  have  none,  and,  when  old  styles  are  copied, 
for  the  most  part  they  are  copied  wrong.  While 
enormous  prices  are  paid  for  cunningly  advertised 


FOLLOWERS   OF   FASHION          161 

masterpieces,  the  majority  regard  any  attempt  to 
import  an  artistic  spirit  into  the  minor  necessities 
and  accessories  of  daily  life  as  being  needless  and 
out  of  place. 

Quite  a  number  of  modern  collectors  who  believe 
themselves  to  be  fond  of  art  are  merely  followers  of 
fashion.  If  a  man  is  really  artistic  he  is  interested 
in  every  kind  of  well-executed  work,  from  a  Gothic 
cathedral  to  a  French  print,  and  can  appreciate  good 
design  of  no  matter  what  style  or  period. 

Many  wealthy  collectors  who  pay  large  sums  for 
objets  d'art,  at  heart  do  not  care  a  scrap  for  beautiful 
things.  Out  in  the  country  with  one  of  this  type, 
who,  to  do  him  justice,  was  not  an  indiscriminating 
buyer,  and  chancing  to  pass  a  little  village  church,  I 
attempted  to  call  his  attention  to  one  of  its  singularly 
fine  windows,  the  tracery  of  which  was  of  a  most 
elaborate  and  charming  pattern,  the  stonework,  well 
and  truly  laid  by  long-forgotten  craftsmen  in  the  ages 
of  faith,  being  in  addition  delightfully  mellowed  by 
the  hand  of  Time. 

Nothing,  however,  would  induce  my  friend  to  stop. 
He  had  never  heard  of  the  church,  and  the  window 
did  not  bear  the  hall-mark  of  general  recognition, 
therefore  why  should  he  bother  about  it  ?  had,  how- 
ever, its  weather-beaten  tracery  (after  some  adroitly 
arranged  puffing)  been  on  view  at  one  of  the 
famous  West  End  art  dealers,  I  am  sure  he  would 
have  been  amongst  the  first  to  rush  and  see  it. 

The  idiotic  ideas  which  the  craze  for  antiques, 
merely  because  they  are  antiques,  occasionally  inspires, 


162    FANCIES,  FASHIONS,   AND   FADS 

were  best,  perhaps,  expressed  by  the  lady  who,  on 
being  shown  a  very  beautiful  piece  of  furniture 
(frankly  described  as  modern)  by  an  honest  dealer, 
exclaimed,  "  Oh,  what  a  sad  pity  !  If  it  had  only  been 
old  I  would  have  bought  it  at  once." 

Decorators  and  furnishers  are,  no  doubt,  greatly  to 
blame  for  not  trying  to  lead  public  taste  into  better 
channels,  but  they  often  have  to  contend  with  colossal 
stupidity  and  fathomless  ignorance. 

The  designer  attached  to  one  well-known  firm,  being 
asked  to  furnish  plans  for  an  Oriental  smoking-room, 
incorporated  some  careful  reproductions  of  the  splendid 
work  to  be  found  in  the  Alhambra  at  Granada. 

The  people  who  had  ordered  the  room,  however, 
did  not  like  this  at  all.  "  We  don't  want  copies,"  said 
they,  "but  original  work  ;  besides,  we  don't  care  about 
the  '  Alhambra '  —  the  '  Empire '  is  built  in  a  more 
cheerful  style ! " 

Side  by  side  with  a  veritable  craze  for  collecting 
and  paying  enormous  prices  for  furniture,  pictures,  and 
prints,  there  exists  a  complete  indifference  as  regards 
ancient  architecture  and  the  fittings  of  old  houses  and 
churches,  unless  they  have  been  widely  boomed,  after 
which  process,  as  in  the  case  of  the  Globe  Room  at  the 
Reindeer  Inn  at  Banbury,  they  become  valued  at 
some  sum  quite  disproportionate  to  their  real  worth. 

The  circumstances  connected  with  the  sale  of  this 
room,  which  Lady  Algernon  Gordon  Lennox  and 
Lord  Curzon  tried  so  hard  to  save,  were  indubitably 
highly  discreditable  to  the  town  of  Banbury  and  to 
the  well-to-do  residents  of  the  surrounding  district. 


THE   GLOBE   ROOM  163 

Not  one  of  these,  with  the  exception  of  the  lady 
mentioned  above,  seems  to  have  made  the  very 
slightest  effort  to  save  the  room  from  being  carted 
away.  As  for  the  town,  putting  aside  all  considera- 
tions of  art  or  sentiment,  it  would  have  been  a  good 
investment  for  it  to  have  purchased  the  old  inn  as 
it  stood.  Carefully  renovated  by  competent  hands, 
the  old  house  would  undoubtedly  have  attracted 
visitors  who  would  have  been  a  source  of  profit. 
The  local  authorities,  however,  were  apparently  too 
dense  or  too  indifferent  to  pay  any  attention  to  the 
matter,  and  so  the  Globe  Room,  sold  by  the  firm  of 
dealers  who  purchased  it  at  an  extravagant  price,  has 
been  packed  away  to  the  other  side  of  the  Atlantic, 
no  doubt  to  form  a  smoking-room  for  some  American 
millionaire  ! 

A  large  quantity  of  old,  or  reputedly  old,  woodwork 
must  have  been  sent  over  to  America  within  the  last 
fifteen  years ;  but  I  believe  it  is  doubtful  whether  in 
half  a  century  much  of  it  will  be  left,  the  climate  in 
most  parts  of  the  United  States  being  unfavourable 
to  the  preservation  of  furniture  made  of  old  wood. 
As,  however,  no  small  portion  of  the  old  cabinets, 
tabfes,  and  chairs  bought  by  Yankee  millionaires 
have  in  reality  been  made  a  few  years  ago,  there  is  a 
good  chance  of  the  descendants  of  these  connoisseurs 
inheriting  a  fair  number  of  masterpieces  of  Sheraton 
and  Chippendale  in  fair  condition. 

Up  to  quite  recently  old  English  woodwork  was 
held  to  be  of  small  account. 

The  careless  treatment  which  has  been  accorded  to 


164     FANCIES,   FASHIONS,   AND   FADS 

the  fine  old  fittings  of  churches  and  chapels  is  a  proof  of 
the  artistic  incompetence  of  clerics  and  others  respon- 
sible for  the  upkeep  of  our  colleges  and  schools.  Much 
fine  old  woodwork  has  disappeared  from  Oxford  and 
Cambridge,  and  most  glaring  instances  of  vandalism 
have  occurred  at  two  of  our  great  public  schools.  In 
the  forties  of  the  last  century,  Eton  (which  very  re- 
cently ran  up  a  monstrous  building  of  the  "  municipal 
lavatory "  type  as  a  Memorial  Hall)  cheerfully  ac- 
quiesced in  the  wilful  destruction  of  the  interior 
fittings  of  her  chapel,  the  design  of  which  is  said  to 
have  been  furnished  by  the  soaring  genius  of  Wren. 
In  1877  Winchester  committed  an  act  of  unparalleled 
vandalism  in  casting  out  of  its  chapel  the  magnificent 
panelling,  which  is  now  not  many  miles  away  at 
Hursley  Park  !  The  panelling  in  question — which  has 
been  valued,  I  believe,  as  high  as  ,£100,000 — at  the 
so-called  "  restoration "  was  allowed  to  become  the 
property  of  the  contractors,  who  eventually  sold  it  for 
^50  to  an  ecclesiastical  dignitary  who  hoped  to  be 
able  to  preserve  it.  Not,  however,  being  able  to 
make  use  of  it,  he  eventually  sold  it  again.  That 
ardent  fighter  against  vandalism,  Mr.  Arthur  Leveson- 
Gower,  found  it  in  1903  in  the  possession  of  the  next 
owner,  who  was  willing  to  part  with  it  for  ;£  1,200. 
Mr.  Leveson-Gower  then  used  his  best  endeavours  to 
get  the  Winchester  authorities  to  buy  back  this  price- 
less treasure,  but  they  refused  to  listen.  He  next 
approached  the  authorities  at  Eton,  having  some 
idea  that  the  fine  old  woodwork  might  be  utilized  for 
the  Eton  memorial ;  this  suggestion,  however,  was 


MR.    LEVESON  GOWER  165 

not  considered  practicable,  and  it  was  then  bought  by 
an  architect  and  sold,  but  for  something  approaching 
^"30,000.  To-day  it  is  the  glory  of  a  private  house 
within  a  few  miles  of  Winchester. 

There  is  a  roll  of  shame  as  well  as  a  roll  of  honour  ; 
the  names  of  the  governing  body  which  allowed  the 
removal  of  this  panelling  certainly  deserve  to  figure 
on  the  former. 

To  the  honour  of  the  Warden,  the  Rev.  Godfrey 
Bolles  Lee,  he  was  not  among  the  ignorant  men  who 
approved  of  the  removal  of  the  beautiful  Grinling 
Gibbons  carving  from  the  chapel  in  order  to  carry 
out  Mr.  Butterfield's  scheme  for  increasing  the  ac- 
commodation. 

The  removal  of  the  panelling  remained  a  grievance 
to  Mr.  Lee  for  the  rest  of  his  life,  and  he  never 
ceased  to  deplore  the  fact  of  the  chapel  having  been 
spoilt  by  the  substitution  of  sham  Gothic  fittings. 

He  opposed  the  alterations  in  every  possible  way, 
but  his  objections  were  ruthlessly  overruled  by  the 
majority,  whose  vandalism  he  was  powerless  to  check. 

Unfortunately  at  that  time  the  Warden  was  not 
ex  officio  chairman  of  the  governing  body,  but  only 
an  ordinary  member. 

In  a  despairing  letter  to  The  Times,  Mr.  Leveson- 
Gower,  to  whom  all  honour  is  due,  recently  pointed 
out  that  nothing  seems  to  stem  the  current  of  this 
ruthless  "  restoration  by  continual  acts  of  vandalism." 
Even  while  he  wrote,  two  old  city  churches  were 
closed  for  "restoration"  and  the  removal  of  their 
galleries ;  while  but  a  few  weeks  before,  the  noble  old 


166    FANCIES,  FASHIONS,  AND  FADS 

church  of  St.  Mary,  in  Rotterdam,  held  on  a  perpetual 
lease  and  founded  in  the  reign  of  Queen  Anne,  sub- 
scribed for  by  the  Queen,  by  Admiral  Sir  George 
Rooke,  and  many  other  eminent  Englishmen,  possibly 
built  by  Wren,  and  at  all  events  an  excellent  type  of 
church  of  his  date  and  in  a  perfect  state  of  preserva- 
tion, had  been  ruthlessly  torn  down,  all  its  fine  wood- 
work offered  for  sale — a  landmark  in  Rotterdam  gone 
for  ever  in  order  to  satisfy  some  passing  whim,  and  to 
provide  a  modern,  up-to-date  church  for  the  use  of  the 
British  residents  of  that  town.  This  latter  act  of 
vandalism  was  a  disgrace  to  every  one  concerned. 

Much  the  same  kind  of  thing,  unfortunately,  has, 
from  time  to  time,  taken  place  in  England,  the  prin- 
cipal offenders  having  generally  been  the  clergy,  owing 
to  whom  most  of  the  picturesque  village  churches,  so 
many  of  which,  up  to  the  middle  of  the  last  century, 
were  full  of  highly  interesting  details,  have  been 
completely  spoilt. 

In  some  cases,  where  dilapidation  prevailed,  so- 
called  "restoration"  may  have  done  good;  but,  as 
a  general  rule,  it  has  merely  vulgarized  and  spoilt  the 
buildings  to  which  it  has  been  applied. 

The  word  "  restoration  "  is  really  a  misnomer  for  the 
attempt  of  one  age  to  recreate  that  which  essentially 
belongs  to  another  and  entirely  different  age,  and 
cannot  of  necessity  prove  successful.  At  best  restora- 
tion, even  of  a  thoughtful  kind,  can  only  be  considered 
as  a  sort  of  antiquarianism  diverted  into  a  mischievous 
channel ;  it  should  also  not  be  forgotten  that  were  it 
ever  completely  successful  it  would  be  but  a  falsifi- 


"  RESTORATION  "  167 

cation  of  history  and  a  fraud  to  take  in  future 
generations.  There  is,  however,  little  fear  of 
this;  "restorations"  may  shock,  but  they  hardly 
ever  deceive. 

The  struggle  to  preserve  fine  old  buildings  gains 
comparatively  little  sympathy  from  the  public,  the 
excellent  Society  for  the  Preservation  of  Ancient 
Buildings  not  receiving  anything  like  the  support  its 
most  judicious  efforts  deserve.  The  war  which  it 
wages  against  vandalism  in  general  is  more  or  less 
an  unequal  fight,  for,  like  the  legendary  Phcenix,  the 
Philistine  is  always  rising  afresh  from  his  own  ashes, 
as  destructive,  as  incapable  of  appreciating  relics  of 
the  past  as  were  the  cavemen  of  dim  prehistoric  times. 

Ignorance  is  one  of  the  most  active  agents  in 
promoting  the  destruction  of  fine  things. 

The  incendiary  who  had  gleefully  taken  part  in 
the  burning  of  the  library  of  the  Louvre  in  1871 
really  had  a  very  good  excuse  when  he  defended  his 
conduct  by  the  remark :  "  After  all,  what  do  you 
expect?  I  cannot  read." 

For  the  "restorer,"  however,  there  is  no  excuse — 
in  the  sixties  and  seventies  he  probably  did  more 
harm,  from  an  artistic  point  of  view,  than  the  rough 
old  Puritans  had  ever  done. 

One  of  the  peculiar  crazes  of  the  restoring  architect 
was  laying  down  encaustic  tiles. 

The  resuscitation  of  the  art  of  making  this  form  of 
artistic  pavement,  which  was  indirectly  due  to  the 
influence  of  Sir  Charles  Barry  and  of  the  elder  Pugin, 
has  produced  some  deplorable  results.  Coloured 


168    FANCIES,    FASHIONS,   AND   FADS 

tessera  arranged  in  a  classically  geometrical  pattern 
were  used  by  the  first-named  architect  more  than 
forty  years  ago  for  the  pavement  of  the  atrium  of  the 
Reform  Club.  The  erection,  all  over  the  country, 
of  a  vast  number  of  public  buildings  and  ecclesias- 
tical structures  of  so-called  mediaeval  design,  and  the 
restoration  of  a  large  number  of  churches,  gave  great 
encouragement  to  the  tile  industry;  tiles,  indeed,  more 
suitable  to  public  lavatories  than  venerable  buildings 
were  laid  down  almost  everywhere  ;  artistic  ineptitude 
ran  riot. 

Unfortunately  this  ineptitude  is  still  more  or  less 
a  persistent  characteristic  of  modern  English  art. 
Even  when  a  design  is  beautiful  it  too  often  exhibits 
triviality  or  inconsequence.  A  striking  example  of 
the  latter  is  the  Lord  Kelvin  Memorial  Window  in 
Westminster  Abbey — a  gift  of  the  Civil  Engineers 
of  Great  Britain  and  the  United  States,  which 
was  dedicated  on  July  15,  1913.  This  window, 
beautiful  enough  in  its  way,  is  in  a  very  suitable 
position,  overlooking  as  it  does  both  the  grave  of 
the  great  Irish  scientist  and  that  of  Sir  Isaac  Newton. 

It  would,  however,  have  been  thought  that  some 
attempt  would  have  been  made  to  commemorate  the 
scientific  achievements  of  Lord  Kelvin,  but  to  this — 
can  it  be  believed? — not  the  slightest  attention  has 
been  paid  ! 

With  reference  to  this  deplorable  omission,  an 
"Old  Student  of  Kelvin,"  writing  to  an  evening 
paper,  said  : 

"  Representations    of    Henry    V,    Abbot    William 


INEPT  ARCHITECTURE  169 

Colchester,  St.  George  and  St.  Denys,  the  Dukes 
of  Gloucester,  Exeter,  Bedford,  and  Sir  Thomas 
Erpingham  ;  also  of  Richard  of  Cirencester,  William 
of  Sudbury,  John  Lakynheth,  Thomas  Merkes,  Peter 
Combe,  Richard  Harweden,  and  Richard  Whitting- 
ton.  I  find,  on  the  other  hand,  nothing  to  symbolize 
science  or  the  career  of  Lord  Kelvin.  A  red-and- 
green  presentment  of  Peter  Pan  would  have  been 
quite  as  appropriate." 

Westminster  Abbey  possesses  what  I  fancy  is  a 
unique  specimen  of  painted  glass  in  the  form  of  a 
representation  of  a  great  Victorian  engineer — George 
Stephenson,  if  my  memory  is  not  at  fault — wearing 
a  top-hat ! 

Ineptitude  also  extends  to  our  modern  architecture. 
What  could  be  more  unsuitable  to  London  than  the 
style  of  the  Piccadilly  Hotel  and  other  huge  modern 
erections  ? 

Well  might  a  discriminating  critic,  "Sir  William 
Eden,"  write  to  the  Saturday  Review  : — 

"  Let  us  obliterate,  if  we  can,  the  reproach  of  the 
South  Kensington  Museum,  the  horror  of  Harrods' 
Stores,  and  that  worst  of  all  disgusting  objects,  the 
Victoria  Memorial." 

I  cannot,  however,  agree  with  him  when  he  adds  : 
"  Let  us  try  to  forget  Mount  Street,"  for  that 
thoroughfare,  whatever  may  be  the  demerits  of  its 
architecture,  is  at  least  an  attempt  to  produce  a 
complete  modern  street  in  a  style  of  its  own.  This, 
at  all  events,  is  something  ;  for  since  the  eighteenth 
century  we  have  had  no  style  at  all.  What  is 


170     FANCIES,   FASHIONS,  AND  FADS 

sorely  needed  is  a  decorative  idea,  characteristically 
English,  but  based  upon  the  best  classic  models  of 
antiquity. 

It  should  be  remembered  that  the  British  imitation 
of  the  Grecian  style,  which  prevailed  towards  the 
close  of  the  sixteenth  and  the  beginning  of  the  seven- 
teenth centuries,  was  improved  by  Inigo  Jones,  nay, 
almost  carried  by  him  to  perfection.  This  he  effected 
by  elevating  ceilings  and  altering  the  shape  of 
windows,  by  which  means  he  removed  the  gloom  and 
darkness  which  characterized  the  preceding  period  of 
architecture.  What  was  begun  by  him,  Sir  Christopher 
Wren  completed. 

It  is  an  extraordinary  thing  that  the  plans  for  build- 
ing streets  left  by  this  great  architect  have  not  been 
utilized  in  new  thoroughfares,  such  as  Kingsway. 
The  whole  history  of  modern  London  architecture, 
indeed,  is  merely  a  long  series  of  wasted  opportunities. 
In  the  matter  of  preserving  ancient  buildings  of 
historical  interest  things,  however,  are  not  so  bad. 

Owing  to  the  exigencies  of  modern  life  in  great 
towns,  it  is,  of  course,  often  very  difficult  to  save 
them.  London  lost  much  when  she  lost  Temple  Bar, 
which  should,  of  course,  never  have  been  parted  with 
by  the  Corporation  ;  and  at  the  present  time,  accord- 
ing to  the  Press,  we  are  threatened  with  the  loss  of 
one  of  the  only  two  blocks  of  genuine  Tudor  domestic 
architecture  still  in  existence. 

If  this  report  be  true,  Cloth  Fair,  which  contains 
the  Dick  Whittington  Inn,  housed  in  a  building  of 
Henry  VIII  date,  is  to  disappear,  together  with  the 


IMPROVEMENTS  171 

adjacent  streets  like  Cloth  Fair  erected  by  Lord 
Rich  in  the  reign  of  "  Bluff  King  Hal." 

The  contemplated  demolition,  it  is  stated,  will  be 
undertaken  for  the  purpose  of  making  way  for  "  cold 
stores  and  offices  in  connexion  with  the  market," 
and  to  provide  more  standing  room  for  carriers' 
carts. 

St.  Bartholomew  the  Great,  of  course,  will  remain, 
but  if  the  scheme  of  demolition  be  carried  out,  it 
will  really  become  little  more  than  a  show-place  for 
tourists,  as  the  entire  resident  population  of  the  parish, 
which  it  was  built  to  serve,  will  have  been  practically 
wiped  out. 

The  estimated  net  cost  to  the  ratepayers  of  this 
"improvement"  will  be  about  two  hundred  thousand 
pounds. 

If  the  scheme  be  completed  in  its  entirety,  the  last 
surviving  remnant  of  the  old  City  of  London  as  it 
existed  before  the  Great  Fire,  will  vanish,  for  Staple 
Inn,  the  only  other  Tudor  building  now  left,  is  with- 
out the  City  boundary.  The  County  of  London 
contains  few  really  old  houses. 

An  old  court  in  Bow  Lane,  Poplar,  was  built  in  1616. 
There  are  only  one  or  two  tiled-roof  houses  in  Wool- 
wich and  two  in  Plumstead.  A  few  old  almshouses 
are  all  that  remain  in  Lewisham  ;  the  oldest  parts  of 
Rotherhithe  and  Bermondsey  are  late  Jacobean. 
Westminster,  once  rich  in  old  buildings,  has  not  one 
left ;  there  are  none  in  Islington,  and  only  a  few  on  the 
fringe  of  St.  Pancras. 

So  rapid  and  frequent  are  the  changes  in  London  at 


172    FANCIES,  FASHIONS,   AND   FADS 

the  present  time  that  many  comparatively  modern 
buildings  which  have  been  erected  at  great  cost  are 
already  making  way  for  newer  and  bigger  structures. 
Amongst  recent  demolitions  of  this  sort,  the  old 
General  Post  Office  must  not  be  forgotten.  Every 
one  interested  in  architecture  and  culture  in  general 
should  obtain  and  read  an  article  which  clever  Mr. 
Filson  Young  wrote  as  to  this  demolition  in  the 
Saturday  Review — that  "  lively  weekly  "  which  of  late 
has  regained  the  vivacity  of  its  brilliant  youth. 

With  all  its  faults  the  present  age  undoubtedly 
takes  more  interest  in  architecture  than  was  the  case 
in  Victorian  days,  when  a  purely  utilitarian  spirit  pre- 
vailed, akin  to  that  displayed  by  the  Dey  of  Algiers, 
who,  after  Lord  Exmouth  had  bombarded  half  his  city 
into  a  mass  of  ruins,  offered  to  bombard  the  other  half, 
if  the  British  Government  would  compensate  him  for 
his  trouble. 

Old  buildings,  no  matter  how  beautiful,  fared  very 
badly  when  they  could  be  put  to  practical  use. 

The  mixture  of  utilitarianism  and  simplicity  which 
characterized  England  almost  throughout  Queen 
Victoria's  wonderful  reign  was  very  curious. 

In  the  great  towns  men  were  entirely  absorbed  by 
their  business,  conducted,  of  course,  in  a  far  less 
speculative  way  than  to-day,  but  still  very  strenuous 
and  even  exacting.  Combining  a  stern  private 
morality  with  sharp  business  practice,  art  had  no 
meaning  for  the  majority  most  of  whom  rather  despised 
it  as  immaterial  to  success. 

In  the  smaller  towns  and  villages  a  peaceful  and 


THE   MID-VICTORIAN   ERA          173 

sheltered  existence  was  the  general  rule.  There  was 
practically  no  social  unrest,  and  the  majority  were 
quite  content  to  drone  out  their  lives  with  scarcely 
any  variation  as  year  succeeded  year.  The  men 
hunted  and  shot  at  the  proper  seasons,  and,  with 
their  womenfolk,  paid  an  annual  visit  to  town.  Social 
affairs,  and  the  exchange  of  rather  heavy  dinners  with 
neighbours,  occupied  most  of  the  rest  of  the  time. 
Interest  in  gardens — "a  beautiful  and  refined  taste" — 
was  not  then  what  it  is  now,  and  those  who  did  go  in 
for  gardening  seldom  achieved  anything  like  perfection. 
As  understood  in  those  days,  a  fine  garden  consisted 
of  huge  blocks  of  gaudy  flowers,  chosen  quite  irre- 
spective of  their  colours. 

Most  of  the  Mid-Victorian  country  gentlemen  were 
quite  indifferent  to  science,  art,  or  modern  improve- 
ments. They  had,  it  is  true,  mostly  got  past  the  stage 
of  actually  hating  anything  new  merely  because  it 
was  new,  but,  nevertheless,  they  heartily  mistrusted 
innovations.  Not  a  few  doubted  whether  the  inven- 
tion of  the  steam-engine  had  not  been  a  mistake,  and 
would  have  cheerfully  gone  back  to  the  ways  of  their 
fathers  or  grandfathers. 

The  country  gentry — which  at  that  time  still  lived 
upon  its  estates — regarded  itself  as  the  very  salt  of  the 
earth.  The  sons,  if  they  did  not  go  into  the  Army, 
Bar,  or  the  Church,  stayed  at  home  and  did  nothing. 
The  daughters,  till  they  were  married  at  least,  led  a 
life  of  modified  seclusion  which  was  almost  Oriental, 
whiling  away  their  very  abundant  leisure  with  semi- 
useless  occupations,  such  as  tatting,  crochet,  and 


174     FANCIES,   FASHIONS,   AND   FADS 

working  appalling  fire-screens,  the  designs  adopted 
being,  in  almost  all  cases,  hideous  to  a  degree. 

The  pretty,  often  beautiful,  little  arts  practised  by 
their  grandmothers  of  the  eighteenth  century,  who 
produced  some  real  masterpieces  in  the  way  of  dainty 
decorations,  were  regarded  as  childish  and  out  of  date. 

Taste  in  art  changes  as  rapidly  as  fashions  in  dress. 
What  is  admired  by  one  generation  is  despised  by  the 
next,  and  the  Victorian  rather  scorned  the  pretty 
trifles  which  it  had  known  in  its  childhood.  At  heart 
its  spirit  was  eminently  serious,  as  was  shown  by  the 
somewhat  morbid  way  in  which  its  writers  have  treated 
death.  A  curious  love  of  being  harrowed  by  grief 
permeated  all  classes.  The  interest  which  Queen 
Victoria  showed  for  funerals,  memorials,  and  her  pro- 
tracted mourning  for  the  Prince  Consort  undoubtedly 
enhanced  her  popularity  with  the  British  proletariat. 
The  undertaker's  business  has  always  made  a  great 
appeal  to  the  lower-middle  and  lower  classes  ;  indeed, 
it  is  well  known  that  the  crowning  ambition  in  the 
labourer's  life  is  a  handsome  funeral.  Coffins,  shrouds, 
hearses,  and  nodding  plumes  delight  him.  He  and 
his  wife  are  enthusiastic  over  what  they  will  call  a 
beautiful  corpse.  The  pomp  and  apparatus  of 
mortality  made  a  like  appeal  to  Queen  Victoria, 
who  seemed  to  find  a  kind  of  bliss  in  tears,  and 
numbers  of  well-to-do  people  were  of  the  opinion 
that  this  was  the  proper  thing  to  do. 

Art  of  no  matter  what  kind  was  regarded  as  being 
essentially  frivolous,  if  not  sinful,  and  unworthy  of  the 
attention  of  serious  folk. 


PLUSH  175 

The  beauties  of  pre-Revolutionary  objets  dart  were 
little  appreciated,  except  by  a  cultured  few,  and  the 
work  of  even  the  great  dbdnistes  of  the  Louis  XV  and 
Louis  XVI  period  was  contemptuously  classed  as 
Rococo  and  undeserving  of  serious  appreciation. 
William  Morris,  it  will  be  remembered,  called  the 
magnificent  productions  of  the  old  French  cabinet- 
makers "bankers'  furniture," 

For  Chippendale  or  Sheraton  masterpieces  few 
wealthy  Victorians  cared  a  jot.  Admirably  designed 
chairs,  bureaus,  and  the  like  were  sent  downstairs  to 
the  servants'  hall  or  upstairs  to  the  attics.  The  same 
procedure  was  often  adopted  with  regard  to  master- 
pieces of  the  engraver's  art.  Mezzotints  made  little 
appeal  to  the  Victorian  fancy,  which  liked  to  let  its 
complacent  gaze  rest  upon  heavy  mahogany  couches 
and  chairs  ranged  stolidly  against  a  gaudily  papered 
wall,  relieved  by  some  totally  meaningless  pictures, 
or  coloured  prints  showing  imaginary  Italian  peasants 
in  stiff  and  conventional  poses. 

About  the  most  hideous  (of  many  hideous)  features 
in  a  Mid- Victorian  room  was  the  fire-place  with  its 
heavy  mantelpiece.  In  the  late  seventies  a  craze 
arose  for  having  a  board  placed  on  the  top,  covered 
with  plush  or  stamped  velvet  embellished  with  gilt 
nails,  in  addition  to  which  there  were  often  curtains 
at  the  side,  full  of  meaningless  embroidery.  The 
raison  d'etre  of  the  latter,  I  suppose,  must  have  been 
that  they  were  intended  to  hide  the  ugly  grate  with 
its  rounded  top,  but  as  they  were  never  drawn  there 
was  no  valid  reason  for  them  at  all. 


176     FANCIES,   FASHIONS,   AND   FADS 

Victorian  lack  of  taste  in  many  cases  made  a  clean 
sweep  of  valuable  and  artistic  relics  of  the  eighteenth 
century,  and  many  delicately  designed  mantelpieces 
were  swept  away  to  make  place  for  ponderous  con- 
structions embellished  with  decoration  of  that  pecu- 
liarly meaningless  school  of  design  which  seems  to 
have  been  so  much  admired  by  the  visitors  to  the 
Great  Exhibition  of  1851. 

A  short  time  ago,  in  company  with  an  expert,  I 
was  looking  at  two  huge  marble  Victorian  mantel- 
pieces enriched  with  ponderous  carving  of  the  usual 
inartistic  character.  "  They  must  have  cost  a  good 
deal,"  said  I,  "at  least  ^100  apiece,  and  now  I 
suppose  they  wouldn't  fetch  ^25. "  "They  cost," 
said  the  expert,  "over  £500  the  pair,  and  if  you 
could  get  any  one  out  of  a  lunatic  asylum  to  buy 
them,  they  would  not  fetch  more  than  ^10." 

Sic  transit  gloria   Victoria  mundi. 

The  artistic  outlook  of  the  Victorian  was  in  certain 
respects  childlike.  For  instance,  when  mechanical 
methods  came  to  be  perfected,  people  took  great 
delight  in  imitations  of  hand-wrought  work  being 
produced  by  machinery. 

Fine  old  iron  railings  which  had  been  deftly  con- 
trived by  skilled  and  clever  craftsmen  of  the  past 
were  discarded  in  favour  of  cast-iron  monstrosities, 
the  conventional  designs  of  which  lacked  the  slightest 
grace  or  sign  of  imagination.  The  charm  of  old 
work  is  that  it  bears  the  definite  imprint  of  its  maker's 
personality ;  the  defect  of  the  new,  its  entire  lack 
of  character. 


MACHINE-MADE  177 

To  those,  however,  who  had  passed  their  childhood 
amidst  hand-made  things,  the  idea  that  a  machine 
could  actually  produce  that  which,  superficially  at 
least,  answered  all  requirements  seemed  marvellous. 
The  last  survivors  of  the  old  craftsmen,  who  even  in 
the  earlier  portion  of  the  nineteenth  century  were 
not  many  in  number,  discovered  that  their  day  was 
gone,  and  soon  the  fine  tradition  which  prompted 
good  workers  to  put  their  very  best  work  into 
anything  they  undertook  was  supplanted  by  a 
new  and  bad  ideal  of  turning  out  everything  as 
quickly  and  in  as  large  quantities  as  possible. 
The  factory  system  which  thus  arose  has,  except 
to  the  very  limited  number  of  individuals  who 
have  made  colossal  fortunes,  artistically  proved 
little  less  than  a  curse.  The  only  thing  that  can 
be  said  for  it  is  that  it  has  been  necessary,  in  con- 
sequence of  the  enormous  increase  of  population — 
unfortunately  in  the  main  composed  of  indifferent 
specimens  of  humanity.  For  this  increase,  however, 
the  system  itself  is  indirectly  responsible.  No  one, 
I  suppose,  would  hold  up  the  average  worker  in  a 
huge  manufacturing  town  as  being,  either  physically 
or  mentally,  the  ideal  type  of  man. 

While  the  goods  turned  out  are,  on  the  whole, 
fair  in  quality,  many  of  the  cheaper  products  have 
little  to  recommend  them  ;  extensive  puffing,  however, 
will  sell  most  things. 

The  reputation  of  an  article  is  seldom  achieved 
merely  by  its  excellence.  It  requires  many  years 
of  advertising — years  of  continual  and  expensive 


178    FANCIES,  FASHIONS,  AND   FADS 

advertising — to  convince  the  public  of  anything ;  and 
if  any  article  which  has  achieved  popularity  ceases 
to  be  advertised,  the  sale  of  it  at  once  sensibly 
decreases.  This  was  proved  years  ago  by  the  head 
of  a  certain  enterprising  firm,  who  when,  after  some 
years,  its  reputation  had  spread  throughout  the  length 
and  breadth  of  the  land,  conceived  the  idea  that 
the  time  had  come  to  put  a  stop  to  this  expensive 
process  of  advertising.  "In  future,"  said  this  gentle- 
man, "  I  mean  to  take  the  full  interest  from  my 
capital  instead  of  paying  part  of  it  to  the  printers." 
And  he  set  at  once  about  it.  Accordingly  that  year 
the  firm  spent  a  few  thousand  pounds  less  than  usual 
in  advertisements.  The  consequences  immediately 
made  themselves  felt,  and  as  month  followed  month 
they  became  still  more  disagreeably  perceptible.  The 
head  of  the  firm  then  realized  that  in  London  virtue 
is  its  own  reward  only  provided  it  keeps  a  trumpeter  : 
and  as  he  was  not  an  obstinate  theorist,  he  again 
had  recourse  to  the  printing-press.  Determined 
not  to  spare  expense  he  paid  as  much  as  ^900 
for  the  insertion  of  his  advertisement  on  the  back 
of  the  wrapper  of  the  Catalogue  of  the  Great 
Exhibition,  with  the  result  that  his  business  again 
became  as  prosperous  as  ever.  The  articles  turned 
out  by  this  firm  were,  of  course,  quite  as  good  during 
the  period  when  they  were  not  advertised,  neverthe- 
less the  public  came  near  overlooking  them,  for 
advertising  is  an  indispensable  item  in  the  expendi- 
ture of  a  great  London  firm. 

Fashion   as   well  as  advertisement   has,  no  doubt, 


AESTHETES   OF   THE   "SEVENTIES"    179 

a  good  deal  to  do  with  influencing  the  public  taste ; 
reaction  against  the  taste  of  a  previous  generation 
also  affects  it.  Most  of  the  Victorian  designers, 
indeed,  not  a  few  of  whom  had  passed  their  child- 
hood amongst  tasteful  surroundings,  produced  by 
cultured  eighteenth  -  century  craftsmen,  actually 
despised  the  work  of  their  talented  predecessors. 
There  was  an  almost  entire  lack  of  artistic  symbolism 
in  most  of  the  furniture  and  decorations  produced 
between  1830  and  1875,  born,  no  doubt,  of  the  attempt 
to  draw  inspiration  from  the  machine-made  goods, 
which  were  such  a  source  of  pride  to  the  generation 
which  had  complacently  witnessed  the  almost 
complete  extinction  of  individual  taste  and  skill. 

I  think,  at  a  time  when  there  is  so  much  to  be 
deplored,  it  is  a  highly  reassuring  symptom  that  the 
public  in  general  are  slowly  but  steadily  coming  to 
value  good  hand-made  things  at  their  proper  value. 
The  aesthetic  movement  of  the  seventies,  at  which 
so  much  fun  was  poked,  undoubtedly  contributed 
to  this  artistic  awakening ;  we  should,  indeed,  be 
grateful  that  the  type  immortalized  as  Bunthorne 
ever  existed. 

About  this  time  it  was  that  the  word  "  artistic," 
now  in  such  constant  use,  came  into  vogue.  Oddly 
enough,  this  word,  as  was  recently  pointed  out  in 
an  interesting  article  in  The  Times,  is  one  of  the 
words  which  have  no  right  to  exist,  because  they 
have  come  into  use  to  express  not  a  thing  or  an 
idea,  but  a  mere  vagueness  or  confusion  of  thought. 

"The    word    'artistic'    usually    implies   (said    the 


180    FANCIES,   FASHIONS,  AND  FADS 

writer)  that  all  art  is  a  mystery  which  only  a  few 
initiates  can  understand.  The  rest  of  us  must  not 
expect  to  enjoy  a  work  of  art ;  the  best  we  can  do 
is  to  enjoy  our  own  recognition  of  the  fact  that  it 
is  a  work  of  art,  and  we  express  that  recognition 
by  calling  it  artistic.  We  must  feel  for  it  the  same 
kind  of  reverence  which  the  savage  feels  for  a  hideous 
idol.  He  believes  that  the  idol  is  powerful  because 
the  priest  tells  him  so,  although  he  has  never  seen 
it  exercise  any  power ;  and  we  must  believe  that 
a  picture  is  artistic  because  we  are  told  so,  although 
it  produces  upon  us  no  effect  whatever.  But  there 
is  this  to  be  said  for  the  savage  :  that  he  does  believe 
what  he  is  told  by  a  particular  person  who  is  sup- 
posed to  be  an  expert  in  such  matters ;  whereas 
no  one  knows  who  are  the  people  who  decide  whether 
a  work  of  art  is  artistic  or  not,  or  on  what  grounds 
they  decide  it." 

To  the  aesthetes  of  the  late  seventies  "  artistic " 
meant  blue  and  white  china,  Japanese  fans,  and 
green  or  yellow  curtains.  They  were,  indeed,  much 
given  to  swathing  all  kinds  of  things  in  what  was 
termed  "art  drapery"  of  those  colours — "greenery- 
yallery"  as  they  were  called. 

Nevertheless,  it  was  the  "  greenery-yallery  "  school 
which  made  the  first  attack  upon  plush  picture  frames, 
plush  -  framed  mirrors  plastered  over  with  crude 
paintings  of  fruit  and  flowers,  and  other  similar 
horrors ;  the  so-called  art  decorations  and  blue  china 
which  supplanted  these  atrocities,  in  spite  of  the 
satire  they  evoked,  paved  the  way  for  better  things. 


OLD-FASHIONED !  181 

The  Victorians  loved  covering  up  everything 
with  little  mats,  generally  decorated  with  flimsy 
tassels  or  pompons,  care  apparently  being  taken 
to  select  a  material  which  might  be  relied  upon 
to  attract  the  greatest  quantity  of  dust.  They  were 
also  very  partial  to  painting  mahogany  doors  or 
bureaus  black  and  gold,  cutting  up  fine  prints  to 
make  screens,  and  affixing  modern  china  plaques  to 
elaborately  decorated  cabinets.  Numbers  of  people, 
who  prided  themselves  upon  their  taste,  relegated 
beautiful  pieces  of  eighteenth-century  furniture  to 
the  lumber-room.  The  art  of  the  eighteenth  century 
was  considered  merely  as  "  old-fashioned,"  a  word 
which  people  were  fond  of  scornfully  using  in  con- 
nexion with  old  furniture,  prints,  and  other  objets 
d'art,  now  worth  untold  gold. 

A  striking  demonstration  of  what  the  Mid-Vic- 
torians thought  of  the  artistic  furniture  which  is  now 
so  highly  prized  is  afforded  by  the  criticism  which 
the  late  George  Augustus  Sala — a  man,  be  it  remem- 
bered, in  many  things  by  no  means  wanting  in  taste 
— passed  upon  a  room  in  the  old  style,  designed  and 
furnished  by  two  ladies  (the  Miss  Garrards,  I  believe) 
in  the  English  Section  of  the  Paris  Exhibition  of 
1879. 

"The  section  of  a  poky  little  English  room  is 
shown,  furnished  in  the  angular  and  uncomfortable 
style  pertaining  to  the  end  of  the  last  or  the  begin- 
ning of  the  present  century — a  style  of  which  I 
thought  that  we  were  well  rid,  but  for  the  revival 
of  which  there  seems  to  be  at  present  a  partial 


182     FANCIES,   FASHIONS,   AND   FADS 

craze.  These  rickety,  'skimping,'  spider-legged 
chairs,  tables,  corner  cupboards  and  '  whatnots,' 
these  sofas  too  narrow  for  purposes  of  flirtation 
and  too  short  to  put  your  feet  up — are  all  very  well 
in  the  delightful  pictures  of  Mr.  George  Leslie,  R.A., 
and  Mr.  G.  H.  Boughton.  In  actual  oak,  walnut, 
mahogany,  or  rosewood  I  object  very  strongly  to 
them  ;  and,  if  the  lady-decorators  will  study  even 
the  rudiments  of  the  History  of  Decoration,  they 
will  find  that  this  kind  of  furniture  belongs  to  a 
period  when  a  succession  of  long  and  cruel  wars  had 
virtually  shut  us  out  from  the  Continent,  and  had 
left  us  a  people  almost  entirely  ignorant  of  the  art 
of  design  and  wholly  destitute  of  taste.  The  carpet 
in  the  lady-decorators'  model  room  is  a  significant 
illustration  of  our  deplorable  condition  at  the  period 
which  the  apartment  is  supposed  to  illustrate.  It  is  a 
carpet  substantially  without  a  pattern,  and  there  is  a 
good  reason  for  the  absence  of  pattern.  In  the  age  in 
question  we  did  not  know  how  to  draw  carpet  patterns, 
and  we  could  import  no  pattern-draughtsmen  from 
abroad.  The  two  ladies  may  be  complimented  on  the 
scrupulous  fidelity  with  which  they  have  reproduced  a 
number  of  poverty-stricken  and  weak-kneed  little 
models ;  but  the  value  of  their  work  is  diminished 
by  the  extravagant  prices  which  they  have  affixed 
to  the  examples  of  upholstery  exhibited.  Sedulous 
rummaging  among  the  brokers'  shops  round  Lincoln's 
Inn  and  behind  the  Waterloo  Road  would  buy  for  so 
many  shillings  what  these  ladies  have  charged  so  many 
pounds  for.  On  the  whole,  this  little  exhibition  of 


THE   CRAFTSMAN   OF   THE   PAST     183 

a  state  of  domesticity  to  which  it  is  to  be  hoped  we 
shall  not  return  is  interesting." 

Many  things  have  changed  since  the  days  when  this 
was  written,  and  sedulous  rummaging  in  London  back 
streets  now  very  seldom  procures  any  genuine  old 
furniture  at  all.  What  cost  shillings  then  is  now, 
in  the  majority  of  instances,  worth  a  very  large  sum. 

The  contemptuous  reference  to  the  carpet  substan- 
tially without  a  pattern  is  typically  characteristic  of  one 
of  the  worst  features  of  Victorian  taste,  which  delighted 
in  meaningless  patterns  running  riot  over  all  sorts  of 
unsuitable  material. 

On  the  other  hand,  rich  Victorians  who  deemed 
themselves  art-connoisseurs  paid  large  prices  for  suites 
of  furniture  and  heavy  cabinets  of  the  style  which 
attracted  such  admiration  in  the  Great  Exhibition  of 
1851.  Though  almost  invariably  of  execrable  design, 
the  workmanship,  up  to  the  seventies  at  least,  was  ex- 
cellent. It  is  a  curious  coincidence  that  the  passing 
of  the  first  Education  Act  should  have  coincided  with 
the  complete  disappearance  of  the  old  spirit  which 
caused  craftsmen  to  take  a  pride  in  putting  their  very 
best  work  into  whatever  they  took  in  hand. 

With  very  few  exceptions  the  workman  of  to-day  is 
quite  unable  to  comprehend  the  fine  ideal  of  his  pre- 
decessor, who  made  it  a  point  of  honour  that  nothing 
bad  or  skimpy  should  be  found  in  anything  with  which 
he  had  had  to  do.  This  type  of  craftsman,  which  has 
been  practically  extinguished  by  the  democratic 
system,  reached  his  highest  development  under  the 
daimios  of  old  Japan  and  in  the  days  of  French 


184    FANCIES,   FASHIONS,   AND   FADS 

aristocratic  rule  before  the  Great  Revolution ;  another 
proof,  if  proof  is  needed,  that  aristocracy  fosters  Art 
while  democracy  kills  it. 

Blame  the  ancien  regime  as  you  like,  it  gave  to  the 
world  numbers  of  enduring  monuments  of  real  beauty, 
together  with  objets  (fart  many  of  which  are  so  mar- 
vellously well  wrought  as  often  to  defy  exact  repro- 
duction. The  creators  of  these  beautiful  things  took 
a  delight  in  their  handiwork.  The  modern  craftsman 
with  his  "  get  money  as  quickly  as  you  can  "  spirit, 
does  not  care  a  jot  about  any  one's  opinion.  He 
only  wants  to  get  as  much  pay  from  his  employer  as 
possible,  and  under  present  conditions  it  is  difficult  to 
blame  him  for  doing  so.  As  a  rule  (mainly,  it  must  be 
admitted,  through  no  fault  of  his  own)  he  starts  im- 
measurably lower  than  the  skilled  craftsman  of  a  past 
age  who,  whether  he  was  making  much  or  little 
money,  whether  his  accounts  were  paid  or  unpaid, 
scorned  to  turn  out  anything,  no  matter  how  small  or 
trifling,  into  the  workmanship  and  design  of  which  he 
had  not  put  his  whole  heart  and  soul. 

An  enormous  quantity  of  valuable  objets  d'art  was 
destroyed  during  the  Napoleonic  wars  ;  even  more 
fatal  to  Art  were  the  immediate  results  of  the  French 
Revolution,  when  a  clean  sweep  was  made  of  so 
much  that  was  beautiful  and  interesting.  Even 
men  of  high  talents  and  culture,  carried  away  by 
frenzy,  rejoiced  in  the  wilful  destruction  of  everything 
in  any  way  connected  with  the  old  regime,  and 
witnessed  acts  of  mad  vandalism  with  complete 
complacency. 


"  WARMED  MYSELF  LIKE  THE  REST  "  185 

The  engraver  Wille,  for  instance,  an  individual  of 
high  mental  and  artistic  attainments,  wrote  in  his 
journal  (date  June  19,  1792)  : 

"  To-day  an  immense  quantity  of  the  chronicles  of 
the  noblesse  were  burnt  in  the  Place  Vendome,  before 
the  statue  of  Louis  XIV.  I  went  and  saw  the  cinders 
still  glowing.  There  was  a  huge  crowd  near  by,  who 
were  warming  their  feet  and  hands.  There  was  a 
very  cold  north  wind,  and  I  warmed  myself  like 
the  rest." 

At  this  period  many  municipalities,  when  ordered 
to  furnish  inventories  of  objets  dart  and  historical 
documents  appropriated  by  the  State,  saved 
themselves  the  trouble  by  committing  them  to  the 
flames. 

The  effects  of  the  French  Revolution,  owing  to 
various  reasons,  were  highly  destructive  to  many 
beautiful  relics  of  the  past.  The  young  Republic, 
amongst  many  other  things,  lacked  gold  for  its 
coinage,  for  which  reason  the  authorities  of  the 
City  of  Lyons  did  not  for  a  moment  hesitate  to  melt 
down  a  priceless  collection  of  ancient  medals.  Superb 
fabrics  and  magnificent  tapestries  containing  gold 
thread  were  ruthlessly  destroyed  in  order  to  obtain 
a  few  pounds  of  the  precious  metal. 

In  accordance  with  two  orders  issued  in  Flore"al and 
Prairial  of  the  year  V,  some  of  the  most  ancient 
tapestries  of  the  Royal  Collection  were  cynically  burnt 
in  the  courtyard  of  the  famous  Gobelins  manufactory 
itself,  the  object  being  the  extraction  of  a  certain 
quantity  of  gold  and  silver.  The  tapestry  in  question, 


186     FANCIES,   FASHIONS,   AND   FADS 

consisting  of  sixteen  sets  (180  pieces!)  was  of  incom- 
parable beauty. 

The  populace  in  general  showed  itself  brutal  and 
stupid  as  regards  works  of  art.  The  wonderful  stag 
of  the  Chateau  d'Anet,  by  Benvenuto  Cellini,  now 
happily  safe  in  the  Louvre,  was  in  1793  roughly 
handled  by  a  crowd  of  peasants.  Feudalism,  they 
declared,  had  disappeared,  and  a  stag,  even  of  bronze, 
being  a  survival  of  the  ancient  sporting  rights,  must  be 
ruthlessly  destroyed.  The  zeal  shown  by  many  of 
these  peasants  for  destruction  well  illustrated  the 
boundless  limits  of  human  stupidity.  They  carried 
their  idiotic  ideas  even  into  the  peaceful  realm  of 
garden  life. 

In  their  disordered  minds  certain  choice  plants  bore 
the  hated  brand  of  aristocracy.  Orange-trees  and 
cacti  were  special  objects  of  abomination  to  these 
savages.  "Republicans  want  apples,  not  oranges!" 
was  the  insensate  reason  given  for  the  attempted 
destruction  of  180  superb  orange-trees  which,  being 
at  that  period  of  great  rarity,  were  with  difficulty 
happily  saved. 

Perhaps  the  most  striking  instance  of  Republican 
brutishness  was  an  incident  at  thejardm  des  Plantes, 
where  a  number  of  fools  mutilated  the  bust  of  that 
friend  of  Nature,  the  great  and  gentle  Linnaeus. 

At  the  same  time  ignorance  and  cupidity  sacrificed 
chefs-doeuvres  of  Titian  T  and  of  Leonardo  da  Vinci. 

1  A  Titian  of  enormous  value  was  burnt  at  the  Chateau  of 
Caumartin,  and  a  fine  bronze  of  Leonardo  da  Vinci  was  mutilated 
at  Fontainebleau. 


AN   ASTOUNDING   REPORT          187 

It  would  be  tedious  to  enumerate  the  many  acts  of 
deliberate  vandalism  which  disgraced  the  French 
democracy.  Suffice  to  say  that  if  it  warred  against 
tyrants,  it  warred  also  against  art,  science,  and 
letters. 

It  should  be  remarked  that  a  large  number  of  the 
men  who  were  at  the  head  of  the  Revolutionary 
movement  (many  of  the  ideas  of  which  were  ad- 
mirable) did  everything  possible  to  check  the 
destructive  folly  of  the  people.  The  Convention, 
indeed,  issued  decree  after  decree  enjoining  the 
populace  to  respect  works  of  art.  These,  however, 
could  not  entirely  arrest  the  violence  of  a  maddened 
proletariat,  for  the  most  part  quite  unable  to  under- 
stand anything  except  that  they  were  free  to  pillage 
and  destroy  as  they  liked. 

The  manner  in  which  Revolutionary  ideas  turned 
the  heads  of  intelligent  and  artistic  men  may  be 
judged  from  the  astounding  report  which,  on  the 
6th  Messidor,  year  II,  Bouquier  submitted,  in  the 
name  of  the  Committee  of  Public  Instruction,  relative 
to  the  repair  of  pictures  and  objets  dart  in  the  National 
Collections. 

In  this  document  he  demanded  the  elimination  of 
sickly  pictures,  such  as  the  productions  of  Boucher 
and  Van  Loo  and  others  of  the  same  schools,  whose 
effeminate  brushes  were  not  calculated  to  inspire  the 
masculine  and  nervous  style  which  should  characterize 
defenders  of  Liberty.  "  To  depict  the  energy,"  said 
he,  "of  a  people  who,  by  breaking  its  chains  has 
voted  the  freedom  of  the  human  race,  fierce  colouring, 


188    FANCIES,   FASHIONS,  AND   FADS 

a  nervous  style,  and  volcanic  brush  could  alone 
suffice. 

"  It  is  time,"  continued  he,  "  to  abandon  the 
French  routine,  essentially  monarchical,  which, 
making  the  arts  minister  to  the  caprices  of  false 
taste,  of  corruption,  and  of  fashion,  has  shackled 
their  genius,  imparted  affectation  to  their  methods, 
and  diverted  their  real  end." 

As  a  matter  of  fact,  the  beautiful  Louis  XVI  style 
had  already  been  succeeded  by  that  at  first  known 
as  Directoire,  and  later  as  Empire  ;  Percier  and 
Fontaine  having  in  1793  furnished  the  Ebeniste 
Jacob  with  designs  for  the  furniture  for  the  Con- 
vention, inspired  by  a  spirit  of  classic  art,  modified 
to  suit  more  modern  needs. 


VII 
FASHION 

WITHIN  the  last  few  years  fashion,  as 
regards  both  man's  and  woman's  dress, 
has  certainly  become  more  elastic  and 
tolerant.  During  the  Victorian  Era,  though  oscil- 
lating from  full  to  narrow  skirts  and  from  draped 
to  undraped,  sometimes  elaborate  and  sometimes 
simple,  the  mode  of  feminine  dress,  within  certain 
limits,  was  always  strictly  defined. 

When  crinolines,  for  instance,  went  out,  they 
practically  disappeared  altogether,  the  only  exception 
being  Spain,  where  the  ladies  retained  the  huge 
hooped  skirt,  originated  by  their  countrywoman,  the 
Empress  Eugenie,  long  after  it  had  ceased  to  be 
worn  elsewhere. 

To-day  more  latitude  prevails,  with  the  result  that, 
ladies  dressing  rather  to  suit  themselves  than  to  con- 
form with  the  dictates  of  fashion,  feminine  costume 
has  become  more  artistic  and  graceful  than  of  yore. 

The  grotesque  combinations  of  colour  which  were 
to  be  seen  in  the  seventies  and  early  eighties  no 
longer  offend  the  eye,  and  the  days  of  wild  eccen- 
tricity in  millinery  seem  to  have  passed  away.  In 


190    FANCIES,    FASHIONS,  AND  FADS 

former  days  ladies  often  had  queer  manias  in  con- 
nexion with  minor  items  of  their  toilet ;  some,  for 
instance,  wore  queerly  coloured  gloves.  The  least 
harmful  from  an  artistic  point  of  view  was  the  idiosyn- 
crasy of  Lady  Caroline  Lamb. 

"  How  many  pairth  of  thtockingth  do  you  think  I've 
got  on  ? "  once  lisped  out  this  lady  to  an  astonished 
partner  at  a  ball — "  thikth  !  " 

A  peculiarity  of  modern  feminine  dress  is  a  costly 
simplicity  which  was  unknown  in  less  luxurious  and 
extravagant  times. 

All  classes  of  women,  indeed,  now  spend  more  on 
their  clothes  than  was  the  case  in  former  days,  and 
almost  every  young  woman  down  to  the  working  class 
occasionally  goes  in  for  "stripping  for  dinner,"  as  the 
old  Irishwoman  termed  evening  dress. 

While  feminine  costume  has  become  more  elaborate, 
man's  dress,  on  the  other  hand,  has  deteriorated  in 
every  way. 

It  was  an  ill  day  for  sartorial  display  when  George 
IV  decreed  the  adoption  of  trousers.  The  First 
Gentleman  in  Europe,  who  was  Regent  at  the  time, 
is  said  to  have  arrived  at  this  momentous  decision, 
which  entailed  the  abandonment  of  the  aristocratic 
knee-breeches,  only  after  a  prolonged  conference  with 
a  select  committee  of  ladies,  with  Lady  Conyngham 
at  its  head. 

All  over  Europe  and  even  Asia  a  craze  for 
uniformity  is  evident  in  male  costume.  The  quaintly 
garbed  characters  who  in  the  past  gave  a  note  of 
colour  to  the  streets  of  great  cities  have  gone  or  are 


THE   COLOUR  OF   ROME  191 

going.  Even  in  Rome,  of  which  in  the  past  they 
seemed  to  be  a  sort  of  appanage,  the  guardian  of  the 
law,  who  many  years  ago  exchanged  his  plumed 
cocked  hat  for  a  copy  of  the  London  policeman's 
helmet,  views  such  people  with  no  friendly  eye. 

Rome,  before  the  abolition  of  the  temporal  power 
of  the  Pope,  was  an  incomparably  more  picturesque 
city  than  it  is  to-day.  Its  streets  were  full  of  life  and 
colour,  thronged  by  peasants  with  steeple-crowned 
hats  set  off  with  ribbons  and  flowers ;  scarlet  waist- 
coats adorned  with  gay  buttons  and  embroidered  with 
gold  and  silver  ;  breeches  tied  at  the  knee  with  ribbons 
or  fastened  with  silver  buckles  ;  their  legs  were  pro- 
tected with  gaiters,  and  their  waists  by  woollen  scarves, 
bright  cravats  gave  an  additional  note  of  colour. 

Peasant  women  sported  coloured  bodices,  laced  in 
front  by  ribbons,  and  short  petticoats  which,  if  they 
did  not  hide  their  thick  ankles,  showed  a  bright  buckle 
on  the  shoes  ;  most  of  them  wore  a  square  fold  of 
white  linen  lying  on  the  top  of  the  head  fastened  to 
the  hair  by  a  silver  arrow. 

Priests  of  every  rank — monks,  cardinals,  monsignori, 
abbes,  friars — perambulated  the  streets  in  every  garb. 
To-day  almost  the  whole  of  this  motley  crowd  has 
vanished. 

All  over  Europe,  with  some  few  exceptions,  national 
costume  is  being  abandoned  altogether  or  worn  only 
on  gala  occasions,  as  stage  dresses  are  worn.  In  Hol- 
land, however,  I  understand  that  the  peasants  in 
certain  districts,  in  consideration  of  retaining  their 
national  dress,  are  subsidized  by  a  certain  great  agency 


192    FANCIES,   FASHIONS,   AND   FADS 

of  travel,  the  object  of  course  being  to  provide  tourists 
with  something  to  look  at. 

In  the  general  abandonment  of  old-world  and 
national  costumes  England  has  lost  least  of  all. 

Except  the  smock-frock,  there  does  not  appear 
to  have  ever  been  a  real  English  national  costume. 
The  Highlanders,  of  course,  had  their  kilt,  but  I  am 
not  sure  that  either  the  Welsh  or  the  Irish  ever 
possessed  any  distinctive  dress  of  their  own. 

It  is  true  that  in  connexion  with  recent  attempts 
to  revive  Gaelic  in  Ireland  a  sort  of  kilt  has  been 
worn,  and  probably  those  who  devised  it  had  some 
authority  for  its  pattern. 

Many  years  ago,  during  a  previous  craze  for  Gaelic, 
an  amusing  incident  occurred.  A  little  German  tailor 
amassed  quite  a  small  fortune  by  teaching  visitors 
to  the  Emerald  Isle  the  "old  Irish  language,"  of 
which,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  he  knew  not  a  single 
syllable.  Nevertheless,  one  of  his  pupils,  an  English 
officer,  after  being  taught  by  him  for  twelve  months 
in  Dublin,  was  announced  to  be  a  complete  master  of 
the  real  Gaelic  tongue.  Gaelic  is  only  spoken  in 
remote  districts,  and  a  sudden  call  took  the  pupil 
abroad  without  his  ever  having  an  opportunity  of 
trying  his  powers  in  conversation  with  a  real  Gaelic- 
speaking  Irishman. 

A  short  time  later  this  officer,  abroad  with  a  friend, 
and  walking  through  the  streets  of  a  German  town, 
remarked,  "Well,  I'm  blessed  if  these  Germans  don't 
all  talk  Irish!" 

"  Whatever  do  you  mean  ?  "  rejoined  his  companion. 


MOTOR  DRESS  193 

"Why,  I  speak  Irish,  and  to  convince  you  they 
do  the  same,  I'll  address  the  first  person  I  meet." 

He  did  so,  civilly  inquiring  the  hour  of  the  day, 
and  receiving  a  polite  answer ;  at  the  same  time  the 
native  asked  if  the  officer  were  German.  "  No," 
replied  the  latter,  "but  are  you  from  Ireland?"  The 
native  had  never  heard  of  such  a  place.  An  ex- 
planation ensued,  and  the  officer  found  that  his 
Dublin  tutor  had  made  him  a  perfect  German  scholar, 
while  swindling  him  into  the  idea  that  he  had  been 
learning  Irish  ! 

The  automobile  is,  of  course,  largely  responsible  for 
the  present  slackness  of  fashion  as  regards  clothes.  It 
has,  indeed,  entirely  changed  the  dress  of  the  man 
about  town,  who,  even  a  dozen  years  ago  or  so,  was 
wont  to  pride  himself  upon  the  perfection  of  his  tail 
coat  and  the  immaculate  shininess  of  his  top-hat. 
Walking  in  Piccadilly  in  former  days  one  could  not 
help  being  struck  by  the  little  groups  of  smartly 
turned-out  men  who  were  wont  to  perambulate  the 
old  thoroughfare.  To-day  it  is  becoming  quite  rare 
to  see  people  dressed  in  anything  but  what  were  once 
called  country  clothes.  Such  an  equipment  was  sup- 
posed to  be  not  at  all  the  thing  to  be  seen  in  in  town, 
but  such  a  prejudice  has  now  completely  disappeared. 
As  for  the  cuffless  shirts  of  soft  material,  the  mashers 
of  the  eighties  would  have  been  horrified  at  the  mere 
idea  of  appearing  in  them  in  any  part  of  London. 
All  the  time-honoured  traditions  of  London  dress 
have  been  outraged  since  motoring  became  popular. 
If  with  some  loss  of  distinction,  this  revolution  has 


194    FANCIES,   FASHIONS,   AND   FADS 

undoubtedly  been  accompanied  by  a  considerable 
increase  in  comfort.  It  is,  however,  a  pity  that,  owing 
to  the  sinister  influence  of  that  inartistic  spirit  which 
seems  to  be  inseparable  from  modern  civilization, 
something  more  agreeable  to  the  eye  has  not  been 
evolved,  for,  if  comfortable,  man's  newest  form  of 
dressing  is  undoubtedly  somewhat  slovenly  and  un- 
dignified. 

To  wear  bowlers  and  straw  hats  would  have  been 
considered  as  the  acme  of  bad  form  in  the  Rotten 
Row  of  the  past.  To-day  a  rider  in  a  top-hat  has 
become  almost  an  object  to  stare  at,  a  strange 
sloppiness  of  attire  being  the  object  aimed  at  by  most 
of  the  male  and  female  riders.  When  this  tendency 
comes  to  be  analysed  it  is  seen  to  be  but  another 
proof  of  the  lack  of  robustness  of  the  present  age  and 
its  contempt  for  everything  which  makes  for  dignity 
and  order.  The  old  school  of  riders,  in  their  tightly 
buttoned  coats,  trousers  with  straps,  and  shining  hats, 
belonged  to  a  different  type  altogether.  They  felt 
they  represented  the  aristocracy  of  England  and  must 
therefore  keep  up  a  well-turned-out  appearance  before 
the  outside  world.  The  modern  school  either  have  no 
traditions  or  are  contemptuous  of  such  traditions  as 
they  have.  In  brief,  their  ineptitude  and  sloppiness  of 
mind  expresses  itself  even  in  their  dress. 

In  the  West  End  of  London  the  top-hat  still  more 
or  less  holds  its  own,  especially  in  the  evening,  when 
it  has  triumphed  over  the  opera-hat.  Nevertheless 
it  does  not  occupy  the  exclusive  position  it  did  thirty 
years  ago ;  out  of  the  season  in  particular,  top-hats  in 


THE   TOP-HAT  195 

the  daytime,  except  as  part  of  the  insignia  of  a 
professional  man,  are  growing  rare.  Any  one  entering 
a  good  West  End  club  wearing  this  form  of  headgear 
during  the  daytime  in  August  is  liable  to  be  chaffed. 
This,  I  think,  bodes  ill  for  the  future  of  the  hat  in 
question,  for  there  is  no  more  potent  destroyer  of 
time-honoured  things  than  chaff.  It  was  this,  no 
doubt,  which  drove  the  picturesque  cocked  hat  out  of 
fashion. 

For  years,  after  it  had  been  abandoned  in  the 
daytime,  a  small  form  of  cocked  hat  was  worn  in 
the  evening  by  men  of  fashion  ;  and  an  ill  portent 
for  the  survival  of  its  successor  is  that  it  seems  to 
be  going  exactly  the  same  way. 

The  top-hat  is  an  English  invention.  It  began  to 
be  worn  in  England,  in  the  morning,  about  the  year 
1757  ;  and  after  the  French  Revolution,  because  it  was 
adopted  by  the  Parisians — probably  from  an  idea  that 
it  was  an  outward  sign  of  equality  and  less  ostenta- 
tious than  the  cocked  hat — it  became  popular  in  both 
countries  and  has  maintained  its  popularity  ever  since. 
The  artistic  eye  has  denounced  it  as  being  unsightly, 
and  scientists  have  accused  it  of  promoting  baldness. 
On  the  other  hand,  it  has  found  defenders  to  declare 
that  it  is  the  most  healthy  head-covering  ever  worn, 
on  account  of  the  cooling  atmosphere  which  it 
produces  above  the  head  in  summer  and  the  warm 
one  in  the  winter.  Many  efforts  have  been  made  to 
banish  it,  but  in  spite  pf  time  and  change  it  has  hither- 
to held  its  own.  Originally  the  top-hat  was  of  beaver, 
gradually,  however,  this  gave  way  to  silk. 


196    FANCIES,   FASHIONS,   AND   FADS 

One  of  the  earliest  hats  of  velvet-pile  silk,  the 
precursor  of  the  velvet-napped  silk  now  in  general  use, 
was  made  for  Lord  Lyndhurst,  who  is  said  to  have 
been  the  first  English  nobleman  to  adopt  the  silk  hat. 
Originally  the  material  on  which  the  silk  was  fixed 
was  of  stuff  or  felt ;  but  after  a  time  these  were 
supplanted  by  the  perforated  willow  body,  giving  rise 
to  the  well-known  "gossamer  hat."  Messrs.  Lincoln 
and  Bennett,  however,  were  the  first  to  have  recourse 
to  muslin  and  cambric — securing  thereby  the  much- 
desired  lightness — as  well  as  to  a  chemical  composition 
technically  known  as  "  coodle "  for  proofing  in  lieu 
of  the  customary  size,  glue,  resin,  pitch,  oil,  and 
naphtha,  the  presence  of  which  was  apt  to  become 
unpleasantly  obvious  when  the  warmth  of  the  head 
made  itself  felt. 

It  is  curious  that  man's  headgear — probably  an 
unnecessary  adjunct — should  be  a  symbol  of  civiliza- 
tion. One  of  the  most  ancient  forms  of  it  would 
appear  to  have  been  the  Phrygian  cap.  Italy  gave 
the  world  the  Cap  of  Liberty  and  the  fool's  cap 
— Venice  the  Doge's  cap. 

Coverings  for  the  head  were  little  cared  for  -by  the 
hardy  Celtic  and  Teutonic  tribes,  but  a  cap  or  bonnet, 
answering  the  double  purpose  of  a  hat  and  helmet,  was 
occasionally  worn  by  their  chiefs  as  much,  perhaps,  for 
distinction  as  for  defence.  Its  material  was  originally 
leather,  and  its  shape,  among  the  Britons  and  Irish, 
conical.  The  flat  bonnet  now  worn  in  Scotland,  anti- 
quarians do  not  consider  to  have  formed  part  of  the 
primitive  costume.  If  ancient,  it  is  of  Saxon,  Norman, 


THE   CAP  197 

or  Danish  introduction.  One  shape,  though  not  the 
best  known  of  the  Scotch  bonnet,  bears  a  curious 
affinity  to  the  still  earlier  Phrygian  cap  worn  by  the 
Saxon,  the  Anglo-Norman,  and  most  probably  the 
Dane. 

The  cap  of  antiquity  has  undergone  many  trans- 
formations during  the  ages.  The  old-fashioned 
Highland  bonnet,  the  Turkish  fez,  the  Hussar's 
busby  and  the  kalpak  of  the  Cossacks,  the  cloth 
top  of  which  protrudes  above  the  fur,  are  all  modifica- 
tions of  the  original  cap,  which  never  had  a  peak  or 
brim.  The  Greeks,  Phoenicians,  and  Gauls  stiffened 
the  point.  Old-time  sailors  all  wore  it,  no  doubt 
because  it  was  ndt  easily  blown  off.  The  cap,  it 
should  be  added,  has  always  remained  peculiar  to 
countries  directly  or  indirectly  influenced  by  Greece 
or  Phoenicia,  for  which  reason,  I  suppose,  like  most 
nations  quite  indifferent  to  historical  traditions,  the 
modern  Greek  Army  wears  a  kfyi,  though  the  cap  of 
the  ancient  Greeks  from  whom  they  claim  descent  was 
under  no  circumstances  ever  peaked. 

The  cap  was  unknown  in  ancient  China  and  Japan, 
though  modified  forms  of  it  were  to  be  met  with  in 
India.  The  top-hat,  really  identical  with  the  shako, 
the  bowler  or  billycock  (originally,  it  is  said,  Billy  Coke), 
the  sou'-wester  and  other  modern  forms  of  headgear, 
all  have  their  histories. 

The  dignity  imparted  to  man  by  a  striking  head- 
dress is  nowhere  better  exemplified  than  by  the  case 
of  the  judge's  wig,  the  abolition  of  which,  even  in  this 
iconoclastic  age,  no  one  has  ever  yet  ventured  to 


198    FANCIES,  FASHIONS,   AND   FADS 

propose.  Nothing,  jndeed,  is  more  extraordinary 
than  the  enormous  air  of  authority  and  weight  which 
is  imparted  to  a  quite  insignificant-looking  individual 
by  this  head -'covering — a  fact  with  which  no  one  was 
better  acquainted  than  Louis  XIV,  who,  without  his 
enormous  wig,  appeared  a  very  poor  creature 
indeed. 

The  gorgeous  costumes  worn  by  public  functionaries, 
nobles,  and  kings  were  part  of  a  policy  which  aimed 
at  making  an  imposing  impression  upon  the  prole- 
tariat. 

Humanity  like  bright-coloured  raiment  and  gor- 
geous plumes,  and  the  wearer  of  such  finery  no 
doubt  reaps  some  reflected  glory. 

In  the  East  an  individual  in  a  position  of  importance 
loses  prestige  if  he  appears  in  public  slovenly  dressed. 
One  of  the  cleverest  of  our  younger  administrators 
proved  a  complete  failure  largely  owing  to  the  fact  that 
he  was  in  the  habit  of  dressing  in  a  cap  and  flannels 
and  riding  about  Eastern  towns  on  a  bicycle. 

The  effect  which  fine  uniforms  produce  upon  the 
masses  is  undeniable.  I  have  personally  experimented 
in  this  direction. 

When  attached  to  the  old  Shah  of  Persia 
(Nasreddin),  during  his  visit  to  England  some  twenty- 
four  years  ago,  I  observed  that  his  reception  by  the 
crowds  in  various  manufacturing  centres  varied  from 
extreme  cordiality  to  complete  indifference. 

The  Shah  was  growing  a  very  old  man,  and  found 
it  more  comfortable  to  abandon  a  good  deal  of  the 
gorgeous  clothing — coats  stiff  with  gold  lace,  pearls, 


THE   INFLUENCE   OF   COSTUME     199 

and  diamonds — which  had  been  the  traditional  garb  of 
his  ancestors. 

The  diamond  jika,  a  plume  emblematic  of 
sovereignty  which  is  worn  in  the  kola,  or  lambskin 
cap,  however,  still  remained  an  essential  part  of  his 
state  costume,  though  he  did  not,  as  in  former  days, 
always  wear  it. 

When  he  drove  through  the  streets.  I  observed 
that  the  reception  of  the  King  of  Kings  and  his 
suite  was  rather  cold — some  of  the  Persians,  indeed, 
expressed  surprise  at  the  coldness  of  their  reception 
by  the  crowd. 

"  Well,"  said  I,  "  if  your  Shah  were  to  put  on  the 
splendid  uniforms  he  wore  during  his  first  visit  to 
Europe,  you  would  find  the  crowd  more  enthusiastic ; 
they  come  out  expecting  to  see  him  one  blaze  of 
diamonds,  and  only  catch  sight  of  an  old  gentleman 
in  a  black  frock-coat  and  black  cap.  Make  him  at 
least  wear  his  jika  and  diamond  belt  with  the  great 
emerald  clasp." 

My  remonstrances  bore  fruit,  and  though  the  Shah 
said  the  diamond-plumed  cap  made  his  head  ache, 
he  wore  it  several  times  during  the  rest  of  his  trip ; 
also  he  wore  his.  famous  diamond  belt  and  other 
ornaments  which  were  part  of  his  regalia  at 
Teheran. 

His  reception  by  the  populace  varied  in  about 
direct  proportion  to  the  magnificence  of  his  dress, 
and  during  the  remainder  of  the  tour  neither  he 
nor  his  suite  had  any  reason  to  be  dissatisfied. 

In  connexion    with   Persian  costumes,  it  would  be 


200    FANCIES,   FASHIONS,   AND   FADS 

curious  to  know  exactly  what  the  Persian  fashion 
of  coat  introduced  by  Charles  II  was. 

Some  of  this  king's  costumes  were  artistic  in  the 
extreme,  and  he  seems  to  have  had  a  partiality  for 
subdued  colours. 

A  picture  which  was  formerly  at  Strawberry  Hill, 
represented  the  Merry  Monarch  in  the  customary 
dark  wig,  a  point-lace  cravat  and  a  tasselled  hand- 
kerchief hanging  from  a  low  pocket  of  a  brown  coat 
lined  with  orange. 

The  picture  in  question  representing  a  most  curious 
incident,  seems  to  have  disappeared,  inquiries  having 
totally  failed  to  discover  where  it  is. 

Of  small  landscape  size  and  very  well  painted,  it 
showed  Rose,  Charles  II's  gardener,  presenting  the 
first  pineapple  raised  in  England  to  his  royal  master. 
This  highly  interesting  painting,  which  had  been 
presented  to  Horace  Walpole  by  Mr.  Pennicott,  was 
sold  at  the  Strawberry  Hill  Sale  for  £22  is.  6d. 
in  1859,  when  it  passed  into  the  possession  of  Mr. 
Labouchere,  afterwards  Lord  Taunton. 

Loudon,  a  great  gardener  in  his  day,  had  be- 
queathed it  to  his  grandson,  who  had  left  it  to  Mr. 
Pennicott. 

The  scene  of  the  presentation  was  laid  in  a  garden 
with  a  view  of  the  country  house  (Dorney  Court) 
to  which  it  belonged,  and  it  must  have  been  a  most 
appropriate  picture  for  a  gardener  to  possess.  It 
is  to  be  hoped  that  some  day  this  curious  painting, 
a  print  of  which  exists,  will  be  rediscovered.  The 
Government,  of  course,  should  have  bought  it.  "Well 


STAGE   DRESS  201 

might  a  critic  write  at  the  time  of  its  sale  :  "  If  our 
Governments  were  only  as  highly  cultured  as  John 
Rose's  pineapple,  such  a  picture  could  not  fail  to 
be  in  the  possession  of  the  nation." 

The  reign  of  Charles  I — 1625-48 — brought  with 
it  what  has  often  been  termed  the  most  elegant 
and  picturesque  costume  ever  worn  in  England. 
Owing  to  its  being  in  fashion  at  the  time  when 
Vandyke  was  painting,  it  is  generally  known  as  the 
Vandyke  dress,  which,  of  all  costumes,  perhaps,  is 
the  one  the  best. adapted  for  the  stage,  and  therefore 
generally  selected  for  such  plays  as  are  not  fixed 
by  their  subject  to  any  particular  date.  In  Mid- 
Victorian  times  it  was  even  more  popular  than  it 
is  to-day,  and  many  plays  founded  on  incidents  in 
the  reign  of  Charles  II  were  often  acted  in  cos- 
tumes of  the  reign  of  Charles  I.  John  Kemble, 
actually  hashed  up  the  costumes  of 'three  reigns — 
those  of  Elizabeth,  James,  and  Charles — to  form  a 
conventional  costume  for  the  whole  of  Shakespeare's 
historical  plays  from  "  King  John "  to  "  Henry 
VIII." 

At  any  rate  this  was  a  distinct  artistic  advance 
upon  the  custom  of  the  eighteenth  century,  which 
decreed  that  Shakespeare  should  Ije  played  in  the 
modern  costume  of  the  day. 

Garrick  first  broke  away  from  convention  by 
wearing  a  fancy  dress  for  the  part  of  Richard  III, 
but  he  played  Macbeth  to  the  last  in  a  Court  suit 
of  sky-blue  and  scarlet,  laced  with  gold.  Kemble's 
good  sense  and  determined  spirit  induced  him  to 


202    FANCIES,   FASHIONS,   AND   FADS 

reform  this  altogether  ;  and  though,  to  the  antiquary, 
it  was  as  ridiculous  to  see  the  "  gracious  Duncan  " 
in  a  trunk-hose  as  in  velvet  breeches  and  silk 
stockings,  the  absurdity  was  not  so  striking  to  the 
million,  and  stage  effect  was  infinitely  heightened  by 
the  change. 

One  of  the  most  striking  symptoms  of  the  deca- 
dence of  modern  European  male  costume  is  the 
popularity  of  the  cloth  cap,  surely  the  most  hideous 
and  inartistic  head-covering  which  the  mind  of  man 
has  ever  devised,  in  addition  to  which  it  has  the 
disadvantage  of  being  utterly  unsuited  for  wet 
weather.  Essentially  vulgar  and  plebeian,  this  cap 
unredeemed  by  any  single  merit  except  its  lightness 
seems  to  me  to  be  one  of  the  most  suitable  signs 
of  the  ascendancy  which  democracy,  of  necessity 
devoid  of  imagination  and  appreciation  of  art,  has 
contrived  to  attain — the  appanage  of  an  errand-boy 
of  the  sixties  of  the  last  century,  this  cap  is  now 
quite  freely  worn  by  Cabinet  Ministers,  statesmen, 
and  others,  whose  predecessors  in  a  more  dignified 
age  would  have  shrunk  in  horror  from  any  idea 
of  such  a  kind. 

Striking  and  gorgeous  crowns  were  always  worn  by 
monarchs  of  the  ancient  world,  especially  in  the  East. 
Within  the  last  fifty  years,  however,  the  head-dresses 
of  Oriental  sovereigns  have  greatly  shrunk  in  size, 
the  shrinkage  in  question,  in  two  instances  at  least, 
coinciding  with  the  decay  and  downfall  of  dominance 
and  world  power.  These  instances  are  Turkey  and 
Persia.  In  Turkey,  till  the  reign  of  Mahmoud  II, 


THE  TURBAN  203 

huge  and  picturesque  turbans  were  worn.  About 
1848,  however,  the  Sultan  of  that  day  led  the  way 
in  discarding  the  stately  and  dignified  old  robes 
which  had  been  worn  by  the  Turks  ever  since 
Mahomet  II  had  captured  Constantinople,  at  the 
same  time  adopting  the  somewhat  meaningless  fez 
in  the  place  of  the  beautiful  old  turban. 

The  sartorial  revolution  which  ensued  produced 
what  may  be  called  "  the  bottle-of- Bordeaux 
Ottoman " — his  closely  buttoned  black  surtout  re- 
presenting the  body  of  the  bottle  and  his  fez  the 
red-sealed  cork. 

A  huge  turban  of  shawls  was  also  generally 
worn  in  Persia  up  to  the  fall  of  the  Sefavee 
monarchy,  on  the  capture  of  Ispahan  by  the  Afghans 
in  the  eighteenth  century ;  but  when  the  Kadjars  had 
managed  to  capture  the  throne  they  brought  the 
black  kola,  or  astrakhan  cap,  into  general  use,  its 
shape  varying  from  time  to  time.  To-day,  when 
his  country  seems  to  have  fallen  into  a  most  -pitiable 
state  of  impotence  and  anarchy,  the  high  Persian 
official  sports  a  small  black  cloth  cap,  which  is  a 
mere  shadow  of  the  original  Kadjar  kola,  which, 
under  Fathi  AH  Shah,  was  of  considerable  height. 

Quite  lately  China,  or  at  least  those  Chinese 
sympathizing  with  the  spread  of  modern  ideas,  have 
taken  to  substituting  the  hideous  European  cloth 
cap  for  its  ancient  picturesque  and  appropriate  head- 
dress, the  substitution  in  question,  as  in  other 
cases,  coinciding  with  social  anaichy  and  complete 
loss  of  world  power. 


204     FANCIES,   FASHIONS,   AND   FADS 

The  case  of  Japan,  where  a  large  number  of  the 
inhabitants  now  wear  cloth  caps,  is,  however,  widely 
different,  for  in  that  country,  before  the  advent  of 
Western  ideas,  the  populace  at  large  wore  no  hats 
at  all ;  this  was  probably  in  a  great  measure  due 
to  the  elaborate  way  in  which  the  hair  of  a  Japanese 
was  arranged,  before  the  craze  for  European  costume 
was  inaugurated  by  those  at  the  head  of  affairs. 
In  this  instance,  therefore,  there  has  been  no  re- 
linquishing of  any  historical  head-dress,  but  merely 
the  assumption  of  a  singularly  inartistic  and  vulgar 
article  of  costume,  absorbed  together  with  many 
other  things  and  ideas — some  good,  many  bad — 
from  that  Western  world  with  which  the  old  Japanese 
declined  to  have  any  intercourse  or  dealings. 

The  adoption  of  Western  clothes  by  the  subjects 
of  the  Mikado  has  been  defended  on  the  grounds 
of  expediency — for  working  purposes,  there  is  no 
doubt,  a  loose  jacket  is  more  convenient  than  a 
flowing-  robe  with  long  sleeves. 

It  is,  in  my  opinion,  a  highly  significant  symptom 
of  the  low  estimation  in  which,  at  heart,  the  modern 
world  holds  true  culture,  that  the  passing  of  beautiful 
national  costume,  the  design  of  which,  unlike  the 
arbitrary  creations  of  costumiers  and  tailors  has 
gradually  evolved,  should  evoke  scarcely  an  expression 
of  genuine  regret. 

Quite  recently,  when  the  so-called  Chinese  Republic 
was  proclaimed,  not  a  protest  was  made  against  the 
adoption  of  the  frock-coat  and  top-hat  and  European 
uniforms  in  place  of  the  highly  artistic  and  beautifully 


CHANGING   CHINA  205 

embroidered  robes  which  for  centuries  had  been  the 
recognized  dress  of  Chinese  officialdom.  The  run 
upon  the  Western  cloth  cap,  probably  the  most  com- 
plete manifestation  of  sartorial  degradation,  which 
many  of  the  lower-class  Chinese  immediately  took  to 
substituting  for  their  own  very  appropriate  and  not 
unpicturesque  head-gear,  was  even  said  to  be  highly 
satisfactory  as  promoting  the  interests  of  European 
traders.  At  the  same  time  the  illustrated  papers 
complacently  published  pictures  showing  Chinese 
officials  in  their  new  garb,  as  if  this  development  (in 
reality  a  retrogression)  were  a  matter  for  congratulation. 

The  far-reaching  effects  which  this  lamentable 
change  must  have  upon  the  general  culture  of  the 
people  of  China  cannot  be  otherwise  than  bad.  To 
begin  with,  a  whole  class  of  designers  and  embroiderers 
find  their  occupation  gone,  in  addition  to  which  the 
disappearance  of  the  ancient  costumes  must  inevitably 
convey  an  impression  to  the  populace  that  an  essential 
part  of  the  new  civilization  which  they  are  to  adopt  is 
complete  indifference  to  colour  and  design. 

For  military  purposes,  on  active  service  at  least, 
China  has  no  doubt  been  well  advised  to  adopt  a 
thoroughly  workmanlike  dress ;  but  for  official  occa- 
sions surely  the  gorgeous  old  robes  should  have  been 
preserved.  A  wise  measure,  which  would  have  shown 
the  world  that  the  young  Republic  sincerely  desired  to 
be  in  the  forefront  of  true  civilization,  would  have  been 
the  institution  of  a  special  department  to  see  that 
Chinese  art,  as  applied  to  ordinary  things  and  to 
the  costume  of  the  people,  should  be  fostered  and 


206    FANCIES,   FASHIONS,   AND   FADS 

developed  to  its  utmost  extent.  As  it  is,  every  effort 
seems  to  be  made  to  induce  the  populace  to  equip 
themselves  in  the  trappings  of  our  own  squalid 
East  End.. 

It  is  a  most  unfortunate  thing  that  the  mania  of 
Oriental  nations  for  adopting  European  dress  should 
have  arisen  just  at  the  very  time  when  Western  male 
costume  has  developed  into  the  most  inartistic  and 
hideous  form  ever  devised. 

From  the  point  of  view  of  real  civilization,  there 
is  something  especially  depressing  about  the  recent 
adoption  of  Western  costume  in  China.  A  French 
visitor  to  Yuan  Shi  Kai  recently  noted,  with  disgust, 
that  not  only  was  the  Chinese  President  rigged  out  in 
a  khaki  uniform,  but  the  room  in  which  he  received 
visitors  was  entirely  European  in  style  and  had  not 
a  single  Chinese  thing  in  it.  This  at  a  time  when 
cultured  and  wealthy  Western  people  are  searching 
eagerly  for  Chinese  works  of  art ! 

The  adoption  of  European  costume  by  ladies  of 
the  Japanese  Court  about  1886  (in  which  year  the 
Empress  Haruko  first  appeared  in  a  costume  fabri- 
cated by  some  modiste  of  Berlin)  was,  from  an  artistic 
point  of  view,  lamentable  in  the  extreme. 

Pierre  Loti  has  admirably  described  the  charming 
appearance  which  the  consort  of  the  late  Mikado  and 
her  ladies  presented  at  the  last  official  garden  party 
before  the  change. 

For  some  time  before  this  horrible  piece  of  bar- 
barism was  decided  upon,  the  Japanese  Court  had 
been  trained  in  an  adaptation  of  Western  ceremonial, 


VULGARIZING  JAPAN  207 

a  German  lady  having  been  imported  to  revise  the 
ancient  manners  and  ways. 

The  adoption  of  Western  dress,  against  which,  to 
her  honour,  Mrs.  Cleveland,  the  wife  of  the  then 
President  of  the  United  States,  made  a  tactful  protest, 
was  the  natural  outcome  of  this  German  influence 
and  of  the  unfortunate  mania  of  the  Japanese  for 
imitating  any  modes  and  customs  which  chance  to 
catch  their  fancy. 

After  the  Empress  had  assumed  a  garb  which 
invariably  disfigures  and  vulgarizes  the  women  of  her 
race,  a  great  craze  for  Western  costumes  seized  the 
ladies  connected  with  the  Court,  the  more  so  as  an 
order,  still,  I  fear,  in  force,  rigorously  prescribed 
Western  dress  on  all  official  occasions.  The  inno- 
vation not  infrequently  produced  ludicrous  effects ; 
the  Japanese,  unused  as  they  were  to  tight  bodices 
and  the  other  paraphernalia  connected  with  Western 
fashions,  made  all  sorts  of  ludicrous  mistakes.  Stays 
— in  Old  Japan,  much  to  the  profit  of  the  national  health, 
quite  unknown — were  occasionally  worn  upside  down 
underneath  bodices  of  thick  red  plush  and  the  like. 
At  official  banquets  where  the  poor  little  ladies  had  to 
sit  on  chairs,  some  of  them  would  occasionally  be  seen 
furtively  drawing  up  their  legs  till  they  reached  the 
more  comfortable  position  beneath  them,  which  for 
untold  ages  has  been  the  national  method  of  squatting 
on  the  spotless  Japanese  floors. 

To  me  these  Japanese  women,  tricked  out  in 
European  dress,  seemed  so  dreadful  that  1  always 
avoided  seeing  them  as  much  as  possible.  It  gave 


208    FANCIES,    FASHIONS,   AND   FADS 

me  much  the  same  impression  as  would  a  beautiful 
work  of  art  pasted  over  with  cheap  machine-made 
scraps  of t  tawdry  decoration.  When  I  lived  with  a 
friend  at  Nikko,  I  was  one  day,  in  our  garden, 
appalled  by  coming  across  what  I  at  first  took  for  a 
large  monkey  dressed  up  in  a  short  red  flannel  skirt, 
thick  blue  stockings,  and  shoes.  I  immediately  sent 
for  our  major-domo,  and  asked  him  the  meaning 
of  the  horrible  apparition  outside.  Bowing  in  the 
customary  manner,  he  told  me  that  the  parents  of 
his  little  niece  had  scraped  together  enough  money  to 
buy  her  a  European  dress,  and  thinking  to  please  us 
(for  we  encouraged  all  children  to  come  and  play 
around  our  house)  he  had  bidden  her  come  and  show 
herself  in  her  new  costume. 

After  sharply  telling  him  that  if  such  an  outrage 
ever  occurred  again  he  would  have  to  leave  our 
service,  and  delivering  a  brief  but  forcible  lecture  on 
the  horror  and  barbarism  of  copying  bad  Western 
things,  I  gave  him  a  present  for  the  child  and  told 
him  to  tell  her  to  buy  a  good  obi  (the  beautiful  broad 
girdle  which  is  such  an  essential  part  of  a  Japanese 
woman's  costume),  and,  in  return,  burn  the  ridiculous 
travesty  which  had  spoilt  my  morning.  My  order 
was  obeyed,  and  during  the  rest  of  our  stay  the  little 
lady  never  appeared  before  us  unless  dressed  in  the 
graceful  robes  so  admirably  suited  to  the  face,  figure, 
and  gait  of  the  gentle  and  charming  women  of  Japan. 

At  the  present  time  I  understand  there  is  a  distinct 
tendency  among  the  cultured  class  in  Japan  to  revert 
to  their  old  and  picturesque  costume — photographs 


THE   MIKADO  209 

of  the  present  Emperor  and  Empress  in  ancient  Court 
costumes  have  even  been  reproduced  in  English  illus- 
trated papers ;  for  state  functions,  however,  Western 
garb  has  still  to  be  worn. 

The  spectacle  of  a  Japanese  in  a  cocked  hat  is  as 
strange  a  sight  as  a  Highlander  wearing  a  pigtail. 
Why  on  earth  such  a  clever  people  as  the  Japanese 
should  ever  have  adopted  the  head-gear  which  our 
ancestors  wore  in  the  eighteenth  century  is  quite 
inconceivable.  Our  generals,  diplomats,  and  other 
high  functionaries  retain  it  because  it  has  been 
handed  down  to  us  from  the  past.  The  ancestors  of 
the  Japanese,  however,  would  never  have  dreamt  of 
wearing  such  a  head-dress,  which  is  therefore  meaning- 
less, and  must  be  worn  merely  from  the  idea  of  aping 
other  nations. 

The  late  Mikado,  I  believe,  after  1868,  only  put  on 
the  full  dress  worn  by  his  ancestors  three  times  every 
year,  on  which  occasions  he  went  through  a  solemn 
religious  ceremonial  before  the  shrine  of  his  ances- 
tors. Though  in  public  he  invariably  wore  uniform, 
in  his  private  apartments  he  adhered  to  a  pure  white 
kimono.  These  kimonos  were  never  worn  more  than 
once ;  when  taken  off,  they  were  given  to  various 
Court  functionaries,  who  set  great  store  upon  such 
gifts. 

It  is  curious  to  observe  that  in  their  funerals  the 
Japanese  still  adhere  to  the  fashions  of  their  ancestors. 
Few  of  the  ancient  ceremonies  were  omitted  at  the 
burial  of  the  late  Mikado,  whose  illness  had  inspired 
such  fanatical  devotion. 


210    FANCIES,   FASHIONS,   AND   FADS 

Four  days  before  his  death,  when  all  hope  seemed 
pretty  well  gone,  a  middle-aged  woman  committed 
suicide,  wishing  to  give  her  life  for  that  of  her 
Imperial  master. 

Instances  of  fanatical  devotion  to  Mutsushito  were 
quite  common  among  the  Japanese  people.  Just 
before  the  close  of  his  reign  a  local  stationmaster 
killed  himself  because  the  Mikado's  train  had  been 
delayed  for  half  an  hour. 

General  Nogi  performed  his  final  act  of  self- 
sacrifice  in  national  costume.  I  do  not,  however, 
know  whether  he  donned  the  special  ceremonial  dress 
worn  by  those  about  to  commit  hara-kiri  in  Old 
Japan. 

It  was  strange  to  see  how  the  news  of  the  General's 
self- dispatch,  so  totally  alien  to  the  modern  spirit, 
was  received  in  Europe.  On  the  whole  the  attitude 
of  most  people  was,  I  fancy,  one  of  puzzled 
admiration. 

In  Japan  itself  his  heroic  sacrifice  provoked  neither 
astonishment  nor  regret. 

During  the  war  with  Russia  the  stern  old  warrior — 
a  Samurai  of  Samurais — and  his  wife,  though  passion- 
ately devoted  to  their  two  sons,  had  actually  gloried 
in  their  bereavement  when  death  snatched  both  boys 
away  while  they  were  campaigning.  Not  a  tear  fell 
from  the  weather-beaten  old  General's  face  when  they 
brought  him  the  news  that  his  second  and  last  son  had 
given  his  life  for  his  country  before  Port  Arthur — "  I 
am  glad,"  said  he,  "that  he  has  died  with  honour!" 

The  overwhelming  majority  of  the  Japanese  deemed 


TO  THAT  BOURNE  ....  211 

Count  Nogi's  suicide  a  magnificent  deed  and  a  fine 
patriotic  act  of  self-devotion. 

Speaking  of  what  according  to  Western  ideas  was 
a  deplorable  tragedy,  a  Japanese  gentleman,  labouring 
under  deep  emotion,  said,  "You  in  England  cannot 
understand  it,  but  we  can." 

General  Nogi  and  his  wife  were  old.  Their  children 
had  died  in  the  service  of  Japan  and  the  Emperor,  and 
when  the  latter  passed  away,  no  doubt  there  seemed 
to  them  nothing  more  to  live  for.  Accordingly  they 
decided,  after  the  example  of  their  brave  ancestors,  to 
accompany  their  lord  on  his  last  great  journey. 

Europe  may  not  approve,  but  it  must  at  least  bow 
in  respectful  silence  before  the  unfathomable  and 
heroic  spirit  which  prompted  these  two  brave  hearts 
to  seek  a  tragic  end. 


VIII 
UNIFORMS— OLD  AND  NEW 

FASHION,  if  she  has  ceased  to  exercise  as 
much  influence  as  of  yore  over  masculine 
clothes,  is  still  paramount  where  uniform  is 
concerned. 

The  history  of  military  costume  as  told  by  old 
pictures  and  prints  is  very  curious  and  interesting, 
its  cut,  colour,  and  design  have  varied  at  different 
epochs  in  much  the  same  style  as  woman's  dress. 

From  the  beginning  of  the  nineteenth  century 
to  about  1850  the  coatee  ruled  supreme  ;  the  tunic 
was  then  introduced  in  France  and  spread  all  over 
Europe. 

The  triumph  of  the  Germans  in  1870  caused  us 
to  discard  the  infantry  shako  for  the  present  hideous 
helmet. 

At  the  present  time  khaki,  a  mud-coloured  cloth, 
is  having  a  great  vogue,  all  ornamentation  being 
suppressed.  I  am  convinced  that  had  the  people 
of  the  eighteenth  century  found  it  expedient  to  dress 
their  soldiers  in  this  sad-coloured  stuff,  they  would 
have  evolved  a  uniform  which  would  at  least  have 
possessed  some  striking  and  distinctive  features  of 


MILITARY  COLLECTORS  213 

its  own.  The  khaki  costume  now  in  use  is,  indeed, 
scarcely  a  uniform  at  all ;  anything  less  inspiriting 
than  a  regiment  dressed  in  this  gloomy  convict  garb  it 
is  impossible  to  conceive.  The  wars  of  past  ages 
though,  like  all  wars,  full  of  horrors,  were  at  least 
not  wanting  in  an  element  of  the  picturesque.  The 
wars  of  the  future,  on  the  other  hand,  seem  likely 
to  be  merely  a  contest  of  death-dealing  machines 
managed  by  individuals  clothed  in  the  most  depress- 
ing style  that  human  ingenuity  has  ever  been  able 
to  devise. 

It  is  a  relief  to  turn  from  the  unattractive  fighting 
dress  of  modern  armies  to  prints  and  pictures  represent- 
ing the  fine  and  artistically  designed  uniforms  of  the 
past. 

At  the  present  time,  when  all  sorts  of  hitherto 
unconsidered  trifles  are  eagerly  sought  for,  it  is  strange 
that  so  few  devote  their  energies  to  collecting  prints  of 
old  military  uniforms,  badges,  belt-plates  and  other 
ornamental  relics  of  armies  which  have  marched  away 
for  ever. 

In  France,  setting  aside  the  splendid  assemblage 
of  relics  at  the  Invalides,  there  have  been  many  great 
collections  of  this  kind,  notably  that  of  the  late  M. 
Detaille,  which,  by  the  terms  of  his  will,  is  to  be 
thrown  open  to  public  view.  In  this  country,  private 
collectors  seem  rather  to  have  overlooked  this  highly 
interesting  field.  Major-General  Terry  formed  a 
fine  collection  of  military  prints,  as  did  the  late  Mr. 
Milne,  whose  books  and  pictures,  forming  a  most 
valuable  record  of  the  British  Army,  were  not  very 


214     FANCIES,   FASHIONS,   AND   FADS 

long  ago  dispersed  at  Messrs.  Sotheby's,  where 
a  three  days'  sale  realized  something  over  ^"8,000. 

The  study  of  past  military  dress,  while  highly 
instructive  from  an  historical  point  of  view,  cannot 
fail  to  demonstrate  the  artistic  taste  with  which  even 
the  military  tailors  of  other  days  were  imbued. 

Their  often  admirable  designs  indeed  make  one 
realize  how  pitiful  are  the  efforts  of  their  successors 
of  to-day,  who,  considering  the  large  amount  of 
money  spent  on  uniforms  in  the  majority  of  instances, 
produce  but  meaningless  and  gaudy  effects.  Nations 
which  spend  enormous  sums  upon  their  armies  should 
at  least  get  as  much  value  as  possible  for  their  gold 
and  take  care  that  the  parade  dress  of  their  soldiery, 
in  addition  to  being  ornamental,  should  be  designed 
upon  principles  which  should  demonstrate  the  con- 
tinuity of  national  history. 

Germany,  it  is  true,  though  she  has  adopted  the 
comparatively  new-fangled  spiked  helmet  or  Pickel- 
haube,  seems  to  have  in  some  degree  realized  the 
value  of  such  an  idea,  the  dress  of  the  army, 
especially  as  regards  certain  details,  bearing  traces 
of  evolution  from  that  worn  by  the  soldiers  of 
Frederick  the  Great.  The  Pickelhaube  itself  has 
now  also  its  traditions,  for  this  not  very  ornamental 
head-dress  was  generally  worn  in  the  war  of  1870, 
when  the  victories  of  William  I  laid  the  foundations 
of  the  powerful  German  Empire  which  we  see 
to-day. 

France,  on  the  other  hand,  except  for  her  Cuiras- 
siers, which,  notwithstanding  modern  ideas,  she  still 


THE   PANTALON  ROUGE          215 

retains — partly,  I  fancy,  because  they  are  so  closely 
connected  with  glorious  episodes  of  her  national 
history — clothes  her  soldiers  in  a  very  slovenly 
manner  ;  the  red  trousers,  it  should  be  added,  though 
now  regarded  as  an  essential  characteristic  of  the 
infantry  dress,  possess  very  little  historic  interest. 
They  were  first  worn  by  the  French  Army  about  the 
time  of  the  Algerian  campaign  and  never  formed 
part  of  the  uniform  of  Napoleon's  veterans,  who  were 
clothed  entirely  in  blue.  The  army  of  the  old  French 
kings,  or  at  least  a  portion  of  it,  wore  white,  a 
colour  which  did  not  commend  itself  to  Napoleon 
because  he  considered  that  it  showed  blood-stains 
too  conspicuously,  and  so  led  to  the  demoralization  of 
troops  when  in  action. 

The  knapsacks  of  the  French  and  German  Armies 
were  made  of  calf-skins,  tanned  with  the  hair  left  on. 
They  shed  the  rain  better  than  those  formed  of  plain 
leather,  and  they  were  not  so  much  affected  by  heat 
and  cold  as  those  made  of  waterproof  fabrics,  because 
the  hair  is  a  good  non-conductor. 

The  French  cavalry  helmet,  the  design  of  which 
is  similar  to  that  worn  at  Waterloo,  has  been  pro- 
nounced by  modern  experts  to  be  the  best  and  most 
practical  cavalry  head-dress  in  existence  ;  in  fact,  only 
a  year  or  two  ago  there  was  an  idea  of  giving  the 
whole  of  the  French  cavalry,  including  the  Hussars 
and  Chasseurs,  some  form  of  it.  French  explorers,  it 
may  not  be  generally  known,  have  been  in  the  habit 
of  bestowing  military  head-dresses  upon  friendly 
native  chiefs  as  badges  of  honour.  At  the  present 


216    FANCIES,   FASHIONS,   AND  FADS 

day  the  chief  of  a  certain  tribe  in  French  Africa, 
as  confirmation  of  authority  over  his  people,  receives 
from  France  the  cocked  hat  of  a  French  general, 
which,  on  ceremonial  occasions,  he  wears  over  his 
primitive  coiffure.  This  custom  of  giving  natives 
military  head-dresses  as  symbols  of  rulership  must 
have  been  practised  by  French  explorers  for  a  long 
series  of  past  years.  A  friend  of  mine,  who  did 
much  rough  work  pushing  his  way  into  the  interior 
on  the  East  Coast,  told  me  that  during  a  punitive 
expedition  he  found  in  a  village,  to  the  best  of  his 
knowledge  hitherto  unvisited  by  Europeans,  a  beau- 
tifully fashioned  French  cuirassier  helmet,  which  from 
his  description  -would  appear  to  have  once  formed 
part  of  the  equipment  of  an  officer  of  Napoleon's 
army.  While  in  its  design  it  followed  that  still  worn 
by  the  French  Cuirassiers,  its  details  were  highly 
finished,  whilst  the  ornamentation  showed  that  it  had 
been  carried  out  by  some  skilled  and  artistic  crafts- 
man. To  my  very  great  regret  my  friend  went  on  to 
say  that  in  the  presence-  of  the  vanquished  inhabi-  . 
tants  of  this  village  he  had  had  this  beautiful  work 
of  art  hacked  into  little  pieces,  it  being  necessary  to 
impress  them  with  the  idea  that  their  ruler's  power 
to  work  his  destructive  way  was  for  ever  broken. 
In  all  probability  the  helmet  in  question  had  been 
given  to  the  tribe  many  years  before  by  one  of  some 
adventurous  French  officers  who  had  first  penetrated 
into  this  unexplored  part  of  the  country. 

Cast-off  military  trappings  and  costumes  are  highly 
valued  by  savage  and  semi-civilized  States.     A  con- 


A   QUEER  REGIMENT  217 

siderable  trade,  I  believe,  is  done  in  second-hand 
uniforms  of  every  kind. 

A  good  customer  for  dealers  in  this  sort  of  thing 
must  be  the  Ameer  of  Afghanistan,  who  has  a  com- 
plete regiment  of  cavalry  dressed  in  the  cast-off  garb 
of  guards  of  our  various  lines  of  railway.  The  ap- 
pearance of  this  corps  upon  parade,  with  its  diver- 
sified insignia,  "  L.B.S.C.,"  "  L.N.W.R.,"  and  the 
like  emblazoned  upon  various  portions  of  its  equip- 
ment, is  said  to  be  indescribably  quaint. 

Of  late  years  many  officers  have  told  me  that  they 
consider  uniforms  mere  useless  survivals  of  the  past 
— good  only  to  go  to  balls  in.  According  to  some, 
all  regiments  should  be  dressed  alike  in  that  joyless 
convict  garb  "khaki,"  an  inconspicuous  plume  or 
badge  alone  serving  to  distinguish  a  regiment  from 
its  fellows.  The  soldier,  in  short,  is  to  be  equipped 
merely  as  a  drab  unit  in  a  general  scheme  of  un- 
emotional scientific  butchery.  Old-fashioned  war 
was  a  fever  full  of  vivid,  if  wild  and  disordered, 
dreams.  Modern  war  is  to  be  a  sort  of  ague  which 
kills  as  much  by  dull  leaden  depression  as  by  any- 
thing else.  When  the  world  has  reached  such  a 
pitch  as  this,  it  is  undoubtedly  time  that  wars  should 
cease  altogether. 

It  is  impossible  to  imagine  that  any  khaki-clad 
conqueror  of  the  future,  swordless,  wearing  a  hygienic 
cap  and  probably  goggles  to  guard  his  eyes  from 
the  sun,  will  ever  go  down  to  history  as  has  done 
Napoleon  in  his  famous  cocked  hat  and  effective 
uniform  of  the  Chasseurs  of  the  Guard. 


218    FANCIES,   FASHIONS,   AND   FADS 

Khaki,  though  undoubtedly  a  useful  and  workman- 
like dress,  cannot  be  called  an  inspiriting  garb,  or  one 
calculated  to  promote  esprit  de  corps  ;  there  can  be 
little  doubt  but  that  the  adoption  of  this  hideous 
material  is  largely  responsible  for  the  Territorial 
breakdown.  The  marches  out  of  the  old  Volunteers 
in  full  dress  produced  many  recruits.  It  was  a  fine 
thing  to  see  a  smart  corps  swing  along,  the  band  at 
its  head,  and  civilian  friends  stepping  out  to  the  music 
by  the  side  of  the  regiment.  About  the  Territorials, 
on  the  other  hand,  there  is  little  of  the  brighter  side 
of  soldiering — no  pageantry,  and  no  smart  uniform 
to  attract  recruits. 

The  whole  Territorial  system,  indeed,  well-thought- 
out  and  clearly  devised  as  it  undoubtedly  is,  takes 
little  account  of  human  nature,  which  is  the  main 
reason  that  it  has  proved  such  a  failure. 

The  authorities  apparently  are  at  last  beginning  to 
remember  that  red  coats  have  always  proved  an 
attraction  to  men  not  indisposed  to  join  the  Army,  for 
attempts  have  recently  been  made  to  promote  recruit- 
ing in  Birmingham  by  granting  extra  pay  to  soldiers 
who  wear  their  uniform  on  furlough. 

The  value  of  a  smart  uniform  as  an  inducement  to 
enlist  was  generally  recognized  in  the  past. 

The  Times  of  September  25,  1801,  contained  an 
advertisement  addressed  to  young  men  likely  to  join 
the  Light  Dragoons.  Among  the  attractions  specified 
were  the  prospect  of  being  mounted  "  on  the  finest 
horses  in  the  world,  wearing  superb  clothing  and  the 
richest  accoutrements. 


MARTIAL   MUSIC  219 

Your  pay  and  privileges "  (so  ran  this  appeal) 
"  equal  two  guineas  a  week ;  you  are  everywhere 
respected  ;  your  society  is  courted  ;  you  are  admired 
by  the  fair,  which,  together  with  the  chance  of  getting 
switched  to  a  buxom  widow  or  brushing  with  a  rich 
heiress,  renders  the  situation  truly  enviable  and 
delightful." 

Not  content  with  garbing  our  soldiers  like  convicts, 
there  have  been  suggestions  of  late  years  that  military 
bands  should  cease  to  exist.  A  more  ridiculous 
suggestion  was  never  made. 

Napoleon,  the  greatest  master  of  war  who  ever 
lived,  attached  extraordinary  importance  to  martial 
music.  Before  a  battle  he  always  caused  his  bands 
to  strike  up  airs  recalling  the  memories  of  many  vic- 
tories, and  the  cries  of  "Vive  l'Empe>eur!"  which 
followed  clearly  showed  what  an  effect  this  produced 
upon  the  spirits  of  his  men. 

The  bands  of  the  Austrian  Army  have  always  been 
noted  for  their'  excellence.  The  big  drum  used  to 
be  carried  on  a  sort  of  little  trolly  drawn  by  dogs, 
and  up  to  about  the  sixties  of  the  last  century  the 
bandmasters  always  wore  a  white  feathered  tricorne  as 
a  badge  of  their  office. 

Military  music  is  essential  in  an  efficient  army, 
and  were  bands  to  be  abolished  it  would  certainly 
not  be  for  long.  The  experiment  made  some  years 
ago  by  General  Thibaudin,  who  did  away  with  the 
traditional  French  drummer  because  he  said  he  took 
too  long  to  train,  proved  a  complete  failure,  and  at 
the  present  time  every*  French  regiment  of  infantry 


220    FANCIES,   FASHIONS,   AND   FADS 

has  its  roll  of  drums  as  of  yore.  The  glories  of  the 
tambour  major,  who  was  such  a  conspicuous  figure 
during  the  Second  Empire,  have,  however,  not  yet 
been  revived. 

Under  the  Second  Empire  the  Paris  streets  were 
rendered  gay  by  the  multitude  of  varied  and  brilliant 
uniforms.  Stately  Cent  Gardes,  with  their  shining 
casques,  their  buckskins,  and  their  jack-boots ; 
soldiers  of  the  Guides,  rivalling  in  the  tight  fit 
of  their  jackets  and  overalls,  and  the  abundance  of 
their  embroidery,  our  Hussars  of  the  Regency ; 
Grenadiers,  Voltigeurs,  Chasseurs,  Eclaireurs, 
Zouaves,  Sapeurs,  cantinieres  of  the  Imperial 
Guard,  Chasseurs  de  Vincennes,  Chasseurs  d'Afrique, 
Spahis,  Turcos.  Of  splendid  appearance  also  were 
the  Dragons  de  1'Imperatrice,  a  regiment  most  of 
the  younger  officers  of  which  were  dashing  viveurs. 
Only  a  few  years  ago  I  found  on  the  floor  of  my 
bedroom  at  Trouville,  where  it  must  have  lain  for 
many  years,  one  of  the  pretty  buttons  of  that 
vanished  regiment. 

Napoleon  III  naturally  did  all  he  could  to 
keep  alive  the  military  traditions  connected  with 
his  great  uncle,  and  therefore  created  a  new  Imperial 
Guard.  The  costume  of  this  corps  did  not  exactly 
resemble  that  worn  by  the  famous  old  soldiers  who 
had  formed  the  backbone  of  La  Grande  Arme'e — 
the  huge  bonnet  a  poil  grenadier  cap,  was,  however, 
retained. 

The  little  Prince  Imperial,  curiously  enough, 
entertained  an  extraordinary  aversion  for  this 


AN  OBNOXIOUS   CAP  221 

picturesque  head-dress.  As  a  child  in  1863,  after 
having  been  promoted  to  the  rank  of  corporal  of 
the  Imperial  Guard,  he  went  to  a  review  of  his 
regiment  with  the  fur  cap  replaced  by  the  light 
kfyi,  still,  though  altered  in  shape,  worn  by  French 
infantry,  and  also  by  schoolboys.  As  the  trumpet 
sounded  for  the  commencement  of  the  review, 
Madame  Bruat,  who  had  held  the  grenadier  cap 
upon  her  knees  ready  for  this  opportunity,  imme- 
diately began  to  remove  the  ktpi,  in  order  to 
substitute  the  head-dress  belonging  to  the  uniform 
he  wore.  But  the  action  gave  rise  to  such  a  storm 
of  indignation,  such  a  burst  of  rage  and  anger,  such 
shrieking  and  screaming  on  the  part  of  the  little 
hero,  that,  had  resistance  to  his  wishes  been  main- 
tained, the  most  dire  results  might  have  occurred. 
As  it  was,  nothing  happened  more  serious  than 
throwing  the  offensive  grenadier's  cap  far  out  among 
the  crowd  of  soldiers.  Good-humour  was  restored 
with  the  replacing  of  the  ktpi,  and  the  usual  demure 
and  quiet  demeanour  of  the  little  Prince  was  notice- 
able for  the  remainder  of  the  day. 

To-day,  like  the  great  tambour  majors  and  the 
gorgeous  Hussars  with  their  furred  pelisses  and 
heavily  plumed  caps,  the  Imperial  Guard  is  but  a 
picturesque  memory.  The  Cuirassiers,  however,  still 
exist,  and  to  the  unconcealed  amazement  of  foreign 
military  critics  still  retain  their  cuirasses  made  at 
the  Creusot  works  and  supposed  to  be  sufficiently 
strong  to  turn  a  bullet. 

For  the    cuirassier  and  dragoon  helmet  with  long 


222    FANCIES,   FASHIONS,  AND   FADS 

horsetail  hanging  behind,  the  modern  French,  indeed, 
appear  to  have  a  great  affection.  Quite  recently  it 
was  reported  that  a  helmet  closely  resembling  that 
worn  by  heavy  cavalry  during  the  Monarchy  of  July 
was  to  be  adopted  for  the  gendarmerie,  who,  since  the 
abolition  of  their  picturesque  cocked  hat  (worn  en 
bataille  in  Napoleonic  fashion)  some  dozen  years 
ago  or  so,  have  had  to  content  themselves  with  the 
unpretentious  kfyi. 

The  helmet  which  they  are  to  wear  is  not  unlike 
that  worn  under  the  Second  Empire  by  the  Cent 
Gardes,  a  picked  body  of  men,  who  were  more  of 
a  personal  bodyguard  of  the  Emperor  and  Empress 
than  anything  else,  and  disappeared  with  the  Im- 
perial Court.  The  dress  of  this  famous  cohort,  who, 
motionless  as  statues,  lined  the  grand  staircase  of  the 
Tuileries  on  gala  days,  was  probably  the  most  ornate 
cavalry  uniform  ever  worn.  The  equipment  of  these 
giants  included  silvery  casques  and  flowing  plumes, 
sky-blue  tunics  and  pink  facings,  bright  steel  cuirasses 
and  golden  epaulettes  and  aiguillettes,  spotless  gaunt- 
lets and  buckskins,  lustrous  jack-boots  and  embroidered 
hammercloths.  The  last  colonel  wrote  an  interesting 
history  of  the  corps.  The  light  blue  of  the  Cent 
Gardes  was  very  likely  suggested  by  the  white 
formerly  worn  by  the  French  Army  of  the  ancien 
regime.  Though  very  attractive-looking  when  new, 
on  service  it  produced  a  bad  effect ;  except  in  the 
crack  regiments  the  men  were  ragged  and  dirty. 
White  is  a  difficult  colour  to  keep  clean — one  of 
the  reasons,  no  doubt,  why  Austria  abandoned  its 


CARNOT  223 

white  tunics  in  the  sixties  of  the  last  century. 
After  the  Revolution  (though  the  troops  in  the 
earlier  battles  fought  by  the  young  French  Republic 
were  dressed  in  pretty  well  anything  they  could  find) 
blue  came  to  be  adopted  as  the  national  colour. 

About  the  most  picturesque  innovation  at  that 
time  was  the  huge  plume  of  tricolour  feathers  which 
surmounted  the  hats  of  general  officers. 

Such  a  frivolous,  if  ornamental,  head-dress  was 
worn  by  the  serious-minded  Carnot,  "  far-planning, 
imperturbable,  and  indomitable,"  who  organized  vic- 
tory by  means  of  his  cool  mathematical  head  and 
iron,  indomitable  will.  It  is  said  that  the  direction 
of  the  movements  of  sometimes  as  many  as  fourteen 
armies  at  once  were  controlled  by  him. 

This  true  patriot  and  gentleman  was  a  poet  as  well 
as  a  writer  on  military  tactics,  geometry,  and  mechanics. 
He  was,  besides,  a  man  of  great  personal  courage,  as 
was  proved  by  his  leading  on  foot  an  attacking  column 
of  the  army  which  forced  the  Austrians  to  raise  the 
siege  of  Maubeuge. 

With  the  rise  of  Napoleon  to  power  less  laxity  was 
allowed  in  the  dress  of  the  French  Army,  David 
and  other  artists  being  specially  called  in  to  design 
uniforms  for  certain  specially  selected  regiments.  The 
infantry  of  the  time  received  the  shako  in  lieu  of  the 
plumed  cocked  hat,  while  various  new  corps,  such  as 
Lancers,  were  called  into  being. 

The  great  value,  of  imposing  head-gear  as  a  means 
of  impressing  the  populace  appealed  to  Napoleon,  who 
gave  his  soldiers  the  most  stupendous  plumed  hats 


224    FANCIES,   FASHIONS,   AND   FADS 

which  the  world  has  ever  seen.  In  addition  to  this  the 
cocked  hats  of  his  staff,  worn  fore  and  aft,  were  enor- 
mous, forming  at  the  same  time  a  most  effective  con- 
trast to  his  own  bicorne  (always  worn  en  bataille], 
which  has  come  down  to  us  almost  as  part  of  the 
personality  of  the  Great  Captain. 

Though  Napoleon  himself  wore  a  uniform  of  great 
simplicity,  the  cost  of  which,  I  believe,  did  not  exceed 
fifteen  pounds,  he  liked  to  be  surrounded  by  a  bril- 
liantly dressed  staff.  Most  of  his  generals  vied  with 
one  another  in  gorgeousness  of  dress.  One  or  two, 
however,  paid  little  attention  to  their  appearance — 
notably  General  Count  Dejeau,  one  of  the  Emperor's 
aides-de-camp. 

This  gallant  soldier  was  a  keen  entomologist  and 
never  lost  an  opportunity  of  acquiring  any  rare  speci- 
men, being  continually  occupied  in  collecting  insects 
and  fastening  them  with  pins  on  the  outside  of  his 
cocked  hat,  which  was  always  covered  with  them. 
The  Emperor,  as  well  as  the  whole  army,  was  accus- 
tomed to  see  General  Dejeau's  head  thus  singularly 
ornamented,  even  when  in  battle.  But  the  departed 
spirits  of  those  murdered  insects  once  had  their 
revenge  on  him  ;  for  in  the  battle  of  Wagram,  in 
1809,  and  while  he  was  at  the  side  of  Napoleon,  a 
shot  from  the  enemy  struck  Dejeau's  head  and 
precipitated  him  senseless  from  his  horse.  Soon, 
however,  recovering  from  the  shock,  and  being  asked 
by  the  Emperor  if  he  were  still  alive,  he  answered,  "  I 
am  not  dead  ;  but,  alas  !  my  insects  are  all  gone  !  "  for 
his  hat  was  literally  torn  to  pieces. 


SCIENTIFIC   BUTCHERY  225 

General  Dejeau,  however,  was  an  exception,  for 
those  were  the  halcyon  days  of  uniform,  and  no 
troops  ever  marched  to  battle  in  braver  array  than 
the  armies  of  the  First  Empire.  It  would  seem, 
indeed,  that  he  considered  pomp  and  ceremony  in- 
dispensable to  successful  soldiery. 

For  uniforms  intended  to  protect  his  troops  from 
observation,  the  Emperor  had  the  most  profound  dis- 
like and  contempt.  At  one  time  some  well-meaning 
officer  (probably  of  much  the  same  mental  type  as 
some  of  our  military  faddists  of  the  present  day) 
actually  devised  a  uniform  for  the  Emperor  which 
should  make  him  less  conspicuous  among  his  staff. 
The  petit  caporal,  however,  would  have  none  of  it. 
"  If,"  said  he,  "I  were  to  go  in  for  this  kind  of  thing, 
I  had  much  better  give  up  going  to  war  at  all."  Not 
for  an  instant  would  he  even  consider  such  an  idea, 
continuing  to  wear  his  green  coat  and  little  cocked 
hat  and  to  be  accompanied  by  a  brilliant  staff.  A 
fundamental  principle  of  his  military  policy,  indeed, 
lay  in  fostering  a  certain  pomp  and  display.  This, 
however,  be  it  remarked,  was  always  in  good  taste, 
for  the  uniforms  of  his  armies,  as  has  already  been 
mentioned,  were  designed  by  first-class  artists,  and 
the  Emperor  himself  had  a  fine  sense  of  what  was 
fitting  and  picturesque. 

War,  and  especially  successful  war,  is  after  all 
based  upon  nothing  but  sentiment,  and  its  conversion 
into  scientific  butchery,  as  it  were,  knocks  the  bottom 
out  of  the  whole  idea.  Napoleon  well  understood 
this,  and,  in  consequence,  did  everything  possible  to 


226    FANCIES,   FASHIONS,   AND   FADS 

make  his  armies  as  splendid  and  imposing  as  he 
could. 

The  lofty  plumes  which  crowned  the  shakos  of 
the  Grande  Armee  were,  it  should  be  added,  not 
devised  entirely  for  the  sake  of  producing  an  im- 
posing appearance,  something  of  a  utilitarian  idea 
being  also  connected  with  them.  In  those  days  of 
firing  at  close  range  it  was  said  that  a  body  of  troops 
equipped  in  very  high  shakos  with  tall  plumes  had 
a  better  chance  of  escaping  bullets  fired  from  very 
unreliable  muskets  than  soldiers  wearing  small  caps. 
In  the  heat  of  battle,  amidst  volumes  of  smoke,  the 
aim  of  those  firing  a  volley  became  confused,  and  it 
was  difficult  to  distinguish  exactly  where  the  man 
ended  and  his  head-dress  began. 

Another  reason  which  no  doubt  prompted  the 
Great  Conqueror  to  favour  gigantic  bearskins,  gor- 
geously plumed  helmets,  and  huge  shakos  was  the 
attraction  which  such  trappings  have  always  had  for 
the  people  at  large.  During  quite  recent  years  a 
similar  consideration  has  caused  the  Russian  military 
authorities  to  restore  to  certain  regiments  the  head- 
dresses which  they  wore  a  hundred  years  ago,  while 
at  the  same  time  adopting  a  modification  of  the 
uniforms  of  the  same  period.  One  of  the  high  officials 
responsible  for  this  change,  to  which  at  one  time  he 
had  been  opposed,  assured  me  that  in  practice  it  had 
proved  the  greatest  success.  Putting  aside  the  fact 
that  the  initial  cost,  contrary  to  general  opinion,  is  no 
more  than  that  of  the  ordinary  modern  equipment, 
and  that,  owing  to  the  pride  of  the  soldier  in  his 


M.   DETAILLE  227 

picturesque  kit,  it  lasts  longer,  thanks  to  the  care 
bestowed  upon  it,  this  change  had  done  much  to 
make  the  army  popular  among  the  people. 

About  two  years  ago  the  French  military  authorities, 
after  a  short  trial  of  a  reseda-coloured  uniform,  designed, 
like  khaki,  to  save  troops  from  being  observed, 
decided  to  reclothe  the  French  infantry  in  a  more 
attractive  dress.  The  task  of  preparing  designs  was 
confided  to  the  late  M.  Detaille,  an  expert  on  such 
matters,  who,  of  all  men,  one  would  have  imagined  was 
best  fitted  for  the  task. 

The  result,  however,  was  not  satisfactory,  the  main 
objection  to  his  scheme  being  a  rather  ugly  helmet 
of  Cromwellian  type,  which  he  named  "  La  Bourgui- 
gnote."  The  new  tunic,  more  ornamental  than  the  old, 
revived  some  of  the  features  of  the  dress  of  the 
Voltigeurs  of  the  Second  Empire.  Worn  in  conjunction 
with  putties  (which  the  artist  had  adopted  from  the 
English  model),  the  general  effect  was  not  good. 
Owing,  indeed,  to  the  criticisms  which  the  new  equip- 
ment evoked,  it  was  not  carried  out — much,  I  believe, 
to  the  mortification  of  the  designer.  It  was  said 
by  some  that  the  rejection  of  his  designs  hastened 
M.  Detaille's  death. 

In  spite  of  the  failure  of  our  friends  across  the 
Channel  to  evolve  a  satisfactory  dress  for  their  troops, 
there  is  no  doubt  it  could  have  been  done  had  only 
old  uniforms  been  judiciously  adapted. 

Would  that  our  English  uniforms  could  be  re- 
modelled upon  the  lines  which  were  followed  in  the 
past !  Within  the  present  year  a  very  sensible  minor 


228     FANCIES,   FASHIONS,   AND   FADS 

change  has  been  made  in  infantry  dress.  Since  about 
1872  up  to  quite  recently  privates  and  non-com- 
missioned officers  of  line  regiments  wore  shoulder- 
straps  of  the  same  colour  as  their  tunic.  At  the 
present  time,  however,  the  shoulder-straps  are  of  the 
same  colour  as  regimental  facings,  the  result,  from  a 
decorative  point  of  view,  being  eminently  satisfactory. 

Old  facings  have  also  been  restored  to  certain 
regiments  within  the  last  few  years.  On  the  whole, 
indeed,  those  responsible  for  the  clothing  of  the 
British  Army  have  shown  a  little  more  sense  than 
their  immediate  predecessors. 

This  being  so,  and  some  slight  desire  to  restore 
some  of  the  picturesque  features  of  parade  uniforms 
appearing  to  exist,  it  seems  strange  that  there  is 
no  idea  of  reviving  the  convenient  and  artistic 
costume  which  was  worn  by  general  officers  during 
the  earlier  portion  of  the  last  century.  At  that  time, 
unlike  the  vast  majority  of  the  army,  general  officers 
wore  no  epaulettes  or  wings,  one  rich  aiguillette  worn 
on  the  right  shoulder  being  the  peculiar  and  highly 
ornamental  appanage  of  their  rank.  In  place  of  the 
tunic  now  in  use,  such  officers  sported  a  coatee,  cut 
somewhat  more  gradually  away  than  that  of  other 
ranks ;  a  double  row  of  buttons  and  a  sash  worn  in 
the  same  manner  as  to-day  completed  a  very  comfort- 
able equipment,  which  accorded  admirably  with  the 
cocked  hat  and  feathers,  which,  in  spite  of  much 
unmerited  abuse,  in  an  altered  and  smaller  form, 
happily  still  survive. 

While  our  uniforms  are  always  undergoing  a  process 


THE   SLASH  229 

of  simplification,  strangely  enough  their  cost  does  not 
appear  to  show  any  substantial  decrease. 

I  have  not  the  bills  before  me,  but  I  would  willingly 
wager  that  the  full-dress  uniform  of  a  subaltern  of  the 
Grenadier  Guards  of  to-day  is  far  more  costly  than 
that  of  his  predecessor  of  a  hundred  years  ago.  In 
spite  of  this,  the  dress  of  a  lieutenant  of  that  age  was 
far  more  ornamental  and  artistic  than  that  now  in  use, 
besides  which,  it  embraced  several  traditional  features 
closely  connected  with  the  history  of  English  military 
costume.  The  gorget  (abolished  about  1830),  an 
ornament  of  comparatively  small  cost,  represented  the 
last  remnant  of  the  armour  worn  by  mediaeval  soldiers ; 
the  sash — not  a  mere  piece  of  ribbon  as  at  present — 
was  a  real  sash  of  considerable  dimensions,  of  hygienic 
value  in  cold  weather,  and  besides,  at  a  pinch,  capable 
of  being  used  to  bear  a  wounded  man  off  the  field 
of  battle.  To-day  the  Guards  regiments,  almost 
alone,  retain  the  slash  with  buttons  on  their  sleeve. 
This,  it  is  true,  is  a  relic  of  old  military  costume  ; 
but  in  1812  they  wore  the  far  less  expensive  and  more 
historical  turn-over  cuff  with  buttons,  which  the  band 
of  one  regiment  of  Guards  still  retains  in  a  modified 
form. 

Within  the  last  few  years,  it  is  pleasant  to  note,  the 
Royal  Marine  Light  Infantry  have  had  the  slash 
restored  to  them.  It  is  to  be  hoped  that  other  distin- 
guished regiments  will  before  long  be  accorded  a  like 
privilege. 

The  bearskin  (contrary  to  ordinary  belief,  light, 
comfortable,  and  a  perfect  protection  against  sunstroke), 


230    FANCIES,   FASHIONS,   AND   FADS 

within  the  last  hundred  years  has  shed  nearly  all  the 
ornamentation  which  in  former  days  relieved  its  fur. 
Except  in  the  Scots  Guards  (in  1812  merely  the  3rd 
Guards),  the  plume,  it  is  true,  remains,  but  the 
picturesque  front  plate,  the  cords,  tassels,  and  cloth 
patch  at  back,  a  relic  of  the  original  top,  have  one  by 
one  gradually  disappeared.  The  front  plate  (abolished 
about  1838)  was  probably  discarded  from  an  idea 
that  it  pressed  too  heavily  upon  the  foreheads  of  the 
men ;  but  surely,  as  in  Fusilier  regiments,  some  light 
badge  might  have  been  retained,  while,  for  full  dress, 
the  picturesque  gold  cords,  contrasting  so  admirably 
with  the  dark  fur,  might  well  form  part  of  an  officer's 
equipment.  The  return  to  the  simple  and  artistic 
old-fashioned  gauntlet  cuff  with  buttons,  far  less  richly 
embroidered  with  gold  than  the  present  one,  would 
be  a  considerable  economy ;  in  addition  to  this,  if 
officers  were  obliged  to  purchase  their  uniforms  in  a 
rational  manner,  the  epaulette,  once  such  a  distin- 
guishing feature  of  their  dress,  might,  at  very  small 
additional  expense,  take  the  place  of  the  meaningless 
shoulder-strap. 

No  infantry  has  ever  worn  such  a  hideous  and 
unpractical  head-dress  as  the  cloth  helmet.  Some 
little  time  ago  designs  for  a  shako  were  under  con- 
sideration, and  it  was  almost  decided  to  issue  a  certain 
pattern  in  lieu  of  the  helmet.  The  present  Minister 
for  War,  I  believe,  put  his  veto  upon  the  idea. 
Though  a  man  of  great  personal  bravery,  like  most 
modern  politicians  he  is  timid  about  doing  anything 
likely  to  arouse  criticism. 


TO   BLUE  231 

At  present,  when  the  design  of  officers'  uniforms 
and  equipment  is  entirely  in  the  hands  of  army  tailors, 
any  changes,  good  or  bad,  undoubtedly  entail  serious 
inroads  upon  the  pockets  of  those  who  lead  our  men. 

The  whole  system  is  iniquitous  to  an  inconceivable 
degree.  If  the  authorities  are  really  desirous  of 
assisting  economy,  why  do  they  not  (as  prevails  in 
efficiently  managed  armies)  institute  a  special  de- 
partment of  the  army  clothing  factory,  from  which 
officers  should  be  obliged  to  purchase  all  uniforms  at 
the  very  moderate  figure  at  which  a  properly  managed 
tailoring  department  could  easily  supply  them?  To 
combat  the  vast  and  costly  influence  of  the  army 
tailors  seems,  however,  to  be  an  almost  superhuman 
task  ;  their  power  to-day,  indeed,  is  probably  little  less 
than  in  1856,  at  which  date  it  was  openly  said  that 
they  alone  were  responsible  for  changing  the  colour 
of  the  6th  Dragoon  Guards  (the  Carabiniers)  to  blue. 
When  this  entirely  unnecessary  change,  made,  it 
would  seem,  merely  to  put  money  into  certain  West 
End  tradesmen's  pockets,  was  effected,  some  outspoken 
people  did  not  hesitate  to  say  that  certain  officials 
shared  in  the  profits  which  resulted  from  every 
officer  being  compelled  to  purchase  an  entirely  new 
equipment.  This,  however,  was  possibly  mere 
malicious  talk,  it  being  more  likely  that  certain  officers 
of  high  rank  and  straitened  means  did  not  dislike 
assenting  to  anything  calculated  to  please  the  tailors 
and  cause  them  to  be  lax  about  sending  in  their 
bills. 

Be  this  as  it  may,  for  years  past  there  has  been, 


232    FANCIES,   FASHIONS,   AND   FADS 

and  still  is  to-day,  a  kindly  feeling  towards  sartorial 
pockets  in  the  hearts  of  those  who  are  constantly 
making  alterations  in  British  officers'  dress. 

The  Carabiniers,  of  course,  were  so  called  from 
the  fire-arm  they  carried.  Their  embodiment  began 
in  James  II's  time,  and  they  were  formed  into 
regiments  in  the  reign  of  William  III.  They  \vore 
breast  and  back  plates,  and  iron  skull-caps  sewn  in 
the  crowns  of  their  hats.  They  were  armed  with 
swords,  and  carried  pistols  in  holsters,  the  carbine 
being  slung  behind  by  a  belt. 

A  curious  thing  is  that  during  the  Indian  Mutiny 
the  Carabiniers  wore  their  brass  helmets  in  action, 
though  they  were  without  any  other  cover  or  pro- 
tection against  the  sun.  Contrary  to  what  might  be 
imagined,  there  were  very  few  cases  of  sunstroke, 
the  burnished  surface  of  the  elaborate  head-dresses 
apparently  causing  the  rays  of  the  sun  to  deflect. 

The  fifties  of  the  last  century,  when  the  gallant 
regiment  mentioned  above  had  the  colour  of  its 
uniform  altered  for  no  reason  at  all,  was  essentially 
an  era  of  sartorial  change.  It  was  then  that  the 
coatee  was  replaced  by  the  tunic,  then  that  epaulettes 
— most  handsome  of  military  ornaments — ceased  to 
be  worn,  and  then  that  the  Hussars  were  stripped 
of  their  traditional  pelisse. 

For  a  time,  indeed,  it  seemed  as  if  no  old  uniforms 
would  be  spared. 

In  September,  1858,  an  announcement  appeared  in 
the  papers  to  the  effect  that  it  was  intended  to  deprive 
the  warders  of  the  Tower  of  the  rich  costume  which 


SILENT   BANDS  233 

they  had  worn  since  the  days  of  Henry  VIII.  They 
were  no  longer  to  appear  in  scarlet  and  gold,  adding 
to  the  pomp  of  a  royal  procession  or  state  visit. 
They  were  to  wear,  in  future,  a  blue  tunic  with 
scarlet  facings  and  a  pair  of  blue  cloth  trousers  with 
a  red  stripe.  The  velvet  bonnets  were  not  to  under- 
go any  alteration.  This  change  was  announced  to  be 
caused  by  considerations  of  economy,  the  old  uniform 
having  cost  the  country  ^52  per  man. 

Happily,  in  the  end  the  fine  old  yeomen  were 
allowed  to  retain  their  smart  uniform  at  least  on  state 
occasions.  I  am  sure  the  stately  and  imposing  effect 
produced  by  their  old-world  dress  is  well  worth  the 
money  which  it  costs  the  country. 

The  expense  of  the  English  Army  is  greater  than 
that  of  any  other,  but  the  British  taxpayer  gets  very 
little  display  for  his  money.  Military  bands,  it  is  true, 
play  in  the  parks  at  fixed  times,  but  now  that  the 
Volunteers  have  been  abolished,  it  is  rarely  that  a 
regiment  is  seen  marching  through  the  street  with  its 
band  at  its  head. 

Those  responsible  for  the  mise  en  scene  on  festival 
occasions  seem,  in  these  days,  not  to  be  very  happy 
in  their  methods. 

After  the  recent  review  of  the  Guards,  when  the 
King  was  returning  to  Buckingham  Palace  the  road- 
way through  Green  Park  was  naturally  thronged  by  a 
crowd  which  had  been  unable  to  obtain  an  entrance  to 
Hyde  Park. 

The  King  and  his  staff  closely  preceded  the  band 
of  one  battalion,  which,  however,  did  not  play,  but 


234    FANCIES,  FASHIONS,   AND   FADS 

carried  its  instruments.  The  effect  was  not  good, 
and  I  heard  murmurs  of  disapprobation  from  working 
people  who  had  sacrificed  half  a  day's  pay  to  come 
and  see  the  troops  go  by.  It  may  be  urged  that  the 
musicians  were  tired  from  playing  in  Hyde  Park,  but 
surely  one  band  should  have  been  held  in  reserve,  in 
order  that  the  return  from  the  review  might  take  place 
to  the  sound  of  martial  music. 

On  the  occasion  of  the  visit  of  the  French  President 
the  musical  arrangements  were  somewhat  more  en- 
livening. Outside  St.  James's  Palace,  just  before 
M.  Poincar£  returned  from  the  Mansion  House,  the 
excellent  band  of  the  King's  Royal  Rifle  Corps 
delighted  an  expectant  crowd  with  the  "  Gaby  Glide," 
to  which  some  of  the  spectators,  presumably  under 
the  impression  that  the  tune  in  question  was  the 
French  National  Anthem,  listened  hat  in  hand. 

Up  to  about  twenty-six  years  ago  the  privates  of 
the  Guards,  and,  indeed,  of  all  regiments,  wore  their 
full-dress  head-dress  when  walking  out  on  Sundays 
— an  admirable  custom  which  imparted  a  little 
picturesqueness  to  our  streets.  Suddenly,  however, 
from  reasons  of  economy,  soldiers  were  ordered  to 
wear  their  undress  caps  as  on  ordinary  days ;  and  so 
the  British  public,  which  pays  more  heavily  than  any 
other  nation  for  an  army  which  affords  less  spectacular 
show  than  any  other  in  the  world,  was  robbed  of  this 
slight  return  for  the  enormous  sums  spent  in  inartistic 
uniforms. 

Almost  the  only  time  at  which  the  public  is  granted 
a  glimpse  of  the  elaborate  head-dresses  for  which  it 


THE  FEATHER   BONNET  235 

pays  is  during  strikes,  the  idea  of  the  authorities 
being,  of  course,  to  afford  protection  to  the  soldiers 
against  brickbats  and  other  missiles. 

A  very  good  effect  was  produced  during  the  last 
great  railway  strike  by  the  bearskins  of  the  Guards 
worn  in  conjunction  with  khaki.  For  once  this 
depressing  garb  looked  quite  soldier-like,  its  essentially 
unmilitary  appearance  being  redeemed  by  the  bear- 
skin cap.  The  whole  thing  would  have  formed  an 
excellent  subject  for  a  sketch  by  Detaille. 

On  the  other  hand,  khaki  does  not  go  well  with 
the  kilt,  that  important  feature  of  a  Highlander's  dress, 
which  some  have  declared  to  be  of  comparatively 
modern  origin. 

Be  this  as  it  may,  the  tartan,  which  is  now  so 
characteristically  Scotch,  is  almost  certainly  derived 
from  the  variously  coloured  garment  of  the  Gauls 
described  by  Diodorus.  At  one  time  this  was  the 
ordinary  garb  of  every  Celtic  tribe. 

The  feather  bonnet  is  not  very  much  more  than  a 
hundred  years  old,  having  originated  from  Highland 
soldiers  sticking  ostrich  feathers  in  their  caps. 

Old  or  new,  however,  it  is  certainly  the  most 
handsome  military  head-dress  ever  devised.  Let  us 
hope  that  our  gallant  Highland  regiments  will  never 
cease  to  wear  it. 

In  the  early  eighties  of  the  last  century  it  was 
in  great  danger,  and  had  it  not  been  for  Queen 
Victoria  would  have  disappeared.  Happily  she 
stoutly  refused  to  sanction  the  adoption  of  some 
new-fangled  head-dress  submitted  for  her  approval. 


236     FANCIES,   FASHIONS,   AND   FADS 

It  is  to  be  regretted  that  she  ever  consented 
to  the  introduction  of  the  ridiculous  so-called  Terri- 
torial system,  introduced  in  1881,  which,  for  some 
unknown  reason,  entailed  the  abolition  of  the  practical 
regimental  numbers  associated  with  a  glorious  past, 
and  gave  nothing  but  long-winded  and  inconvenient 
appellations  in  return. 

It  was  well  known  that  the  Duke  of  Cambridge, 
Commander-in-Chief  at  that  time,  deeply  deplored 
this  change.  However,  he  made  no  serious  effort  to 
oppose  it,  the  real  cause  of  this  being  that  the  consti- 
tutional spirit  which  had  become  part  of  Queen 
Victoria's  nature  and  was  as  the  breath  of  his  nostrils 
to  the  late  King,  in  the  main  dominated  the  Duke, 
who  on  several  occasions  acquiesced  in  much  that  he 
cordially  detested  merely  because  the  Constitution  of 
the  realm  demanded  it.  For  this  reason,  although 
most  distrustful  of  so-called  reforms,  during  his  career 
he  accepted  various  periodic  revolutions  which  at 
heart  deeply  grieved  him. 

Though  the  harm  done  to  esprit  de  corps  by  the 
introduction  of  the  cumbersome  so-called  Territorial 
system  was  almost  irreparable,  great  good  might  still 
be  effected  by  giving  numbers  to  the  regiments  as 
they  stand  now. 

By  such  an  arrangement  the  first  twenty-five  regi- 
ments would  recover  their  original  numbers.  In  any 
scheme  of  this  sort  certain  distinguished  regiments, 
such  as  the  6oth,  42nd,  and  others,  might  well  be 
allowed  to  resume  their  old  nomenclature.  At  the 
same  time,  if  it  should  seem  advisable,  there  would  be 


FAMOUS   REGIMENTS  237 

no  objection  to  the  present  long-winded  and  often 
inappropriate  titles  being  retained  in  the  Army  List 
side  by  side  with  the  far  more  convenient  and 
historical  numbering. 

The  present  familiar  names  of  the  regiments  com- 
prising the  British  Army  commenced  in  the  reign  of 
Charles  II.  The  Life  Guards  were  raised  in  1661 
on  the  plan  of  the  Gardes  du  Corps  of  the  French, 
being  formed  chiefly  of  gentlemen  of  family  and  dis- 
tinction who  themselves,  or  their  fathers,  had  fought 
in  the  Civil  War.  In  the  same  year  the  Blues  were 
also  embodied,  and  called  the  Oxford  Blues,  from 
their  first  commander,  Aubrey,  Earl  of  Oxford.  The 
Coldstream  Foot  Guards  date  their  formation  from 
1660,  when  two  regiments  were  added  to  the  one 
raised  about  ten  years  previously  by  General  Monk 
at  Coldstream,  on  the  borders  of  Scotland.  To  these 
were  added  the  ist  Royal  Scots,  brought  over  from 
France  at  the  Restoration ;  the  2nd,  or  Queen's, 
raised  in  1661  ;  the  3rd,  or  Old  Buffs,  from  their 
accoutrements  being  composed  of  buffalo  leather, 
embodied  in  1665;  the  Scotch  Fusiliers  (now  the 
2ist  Foot),  raised  in  1678,  and  so  called  from  their 
carrying  the  fusil,  a  firelock  lighter  than  the  musket, 
invented  in  France  in  1630;  and  the  4th,  or 
King's  Own,  raised  in  1680.  During  this  reign 
the  bayonet  was  invented  at  Bayonne,  whence  its 
name.  In  1678  Evelyn  informs  us  that  the  Grena- 
diers were  first  brought  into  our  service.  "  They 
were  so  called,"  he  says,  "because  they  were  dexterous 
at  flinging  hand-grenades,  every  one  having  a  pouch 


238    FANCIES,   FASHIONS,  AND   FADS 

full."  The  Dragoons  derived  their  name  from  dragon, 
a  fire-arm  of  Elizabeth's  time,  ornamented  with  the 
head  of  that  fabled  monster.  In  1632  European 
cavalry  was  divided  into  four  classes — "  the  Lancier, 
the  Cuirassier,  the  Arquebusier,  the  Carbineer,  and 
the  Dragon  e." 

Even  in  those  days  people  seem  to  have  been  hard 
at  work  inventing  new  equipment  and  weapons. 

Before,  and  up  to  the  time  of  the  Revolution 
(1688),  there  existed  a  company  entitled  "The 
Hollow  Sword-blade  Company,"  which  was  chartered 
for  the  professed  purpose  of  making  swords  of  this 
construction.  Though  it  is  uncertain  whether  these 
hollow  sword-blades  (with  running  mercury  enclosed 
to  gravitate  to  the  point  when  a  blow  was  struck, 
and  so  increase  the  weight  and  momentum  of  the 
stroke)  were  ever  adopted  in  actual  warfare ;  it  is 
certain  that  "  The  Hollow  Sword-blade  Company " 
ultimately  resolved  itself  into  a  great  land-purchasing 
company,  and  invested  large  sums  in  the  purchase  of 
the  Irish  forfeited  estates,  eventually  sold  at  Chichester 
House,  Dublin,  in  the  years  1703-4.  These  were 
resold  again  to  different  purchasers,  and  I  believe 
there  are  still  estates  in  Ireland  which  depend  on 
what  is  called  "  The  Hollow  Sword-blade  Title " ; 
that  is  to  say,  deeds  showing  their  repurchase  from 
the  original  company." 

Uniform  as  we  know  it  to-day  is  of  course  a  compara- 
tively modern  invention ;  the  mediaeval  archer  probably 
wore  any  clothes  he  could  get,  though  commanders 
gave  their  troops  a  special  badge. 


INFANTRY  239 

A  white  cross  was  generally  worn  by  the  English 
men-at-arms  in  the  time  of  the  Crusades,  being  after- 
wards retained  as  late  as  the  reign  of  Edward  IV. 
Stowe  says  the  City  Archers  wore  the  red  cross,  the 
arms  of  the  City,  on  the  back  and  breast  of  their 
coats.  As  armour  became  abandoned,  the  necessity 
for  uniform  became  more  apparent,  and  scarlet  was 
definitely  established  as  that  of  the  British  Army  in 
the  reign  of  Queen  Anne,  at  which  time,  also,  the 
pike  ceased  to  be  carried  and  the  musket  and  bayonet 
became  the  general  weapons  of  the  infantry. 

The  rose  was  adopted  as  an  emblem  of  England  in 
the  time  of  the  Tudors,  after  the  cessation  of  the 
Wars  of  the  Roses;  the  thistle,  from  the  incident  of  a 
Dane  treading  on  one,  and,  by  his  cries  of  pain,  alarm- 
ing the  Scottish  camp,  and  saving  the  army  from 
destruction ;  the  shamrock,  or  three-leaved  grass,  was 
by  the  early  Irish  considered  an  emblem  of  the  Trinity, 
brought  to  Ireland  by  St.  Patrick,  and  so  became  the 
badge  of  the  nation. 

Both  in  Norway  and  in  Denmark  the  infantry 
soldiers  had  red  cloth  ;  the  English  infantry  red  is 
said  by  some  to  be  copied  from  that  once  worn  by 
Norwegian  troops. 

The  term  "  infantry "  is  said  to  have  taken  its 
origin  from  one  of  the  Infantas  of  Spain,  who,  rinding 
that  the  army  commanded  by  the  King  her  father  had 
been  defeated  by  the  Moors,  assembled  a  body  of 
foot-soldiers,  and  with  them  engaged  and  totally 
defeated  the  enemy.  In  memory  of  this  event,  and 
to  honour  the  foot-soldiers,  who  were  not  before  held 


240    FANCIES,   FASHIONS,   AND   FADS 

in  much  consideration,  they  received  the  name  of 
"  infantry." 

To  realize  the  change  which  the  British  military 
uniform  has  undergone  during  the  last  two  hundred 
and  fifty  years  one  has  only  to  take  a  regiment  like 
the  Life  Guards. 

The  dashing  Cavalier  guardsman,  as  enrolled  by 
Charles  II,  entered  into  London  in  1661  with  a  round 
sombrero  hat,  drooping  feather,  long  curling  hair, 
lace  collar,  cuirass,  gold-embroidered  scarf,  flaunting 
shoulder-knot,  buff  belt  and  bandolier ;  gradually  he 
developed  into  the  steady,  sturdy  soldier  of  1742,  with 
pigtail  and  smartly  cocked  hat,  long  sword,  and  gold- 
laced  frock.  Later  on  came  the  life-guardsman  of 
the  early  fifties,  his  tails  not  yet  cut  off  or  his  coatee 
converted  into  a  short  tunic.  His  jack-boots,  leather 
breeches,  shining  cuirass,  and  glittering  helmet,  how- 
ever, are  with  us  still.  The  cavalier  rode  the  old 
Flemish  horse  ;  the  dragoon  of  Malplaquet  jogged 
sturdily  along  on  a  Suffolk  Punch,  the  favourite 
steed  of  that  day;  while  the  life-guardsman  of  1853 
bestrode  a  black  warhorse  of  the  true  Smolensko 
strain,  strong  in  body,  heavy  in  limb,  but  clean  at 
the  fetlock. 

We  occasionally  hear  complaints  as  to  the  luxurious- 
ness  of  our  officers ;  in  all  probability,  however,  it 
never  reaches  anything  like  the  pitch  to  which  it  was 
brought  by  some  of  the  smart  purchase  soldiers  of 
a  long-past  day. 

The  laments  of  one  distinguished  commander  when 
piteously  appealing  for  various  luxuries  still  wanting  to 


ULTIMA   RATIO   REGUM  241 

complete  his  commissariat  made  him  the  laughing-stock 
of  Europe.  Lord  Cardigan,  before  Balaclava,  lived  on 
his  yacht,  nor  were  the  minor  amenities  of  life  despised 
by  officers  of  what  is  generally  accounted  to  have 
been  a  more  hardy  and  rougher  age.  In  the 
Peninsula,  for  instance,  quite  a  number  of  the  younger 
captains  and  subalterns  carried  umbrellas — expensive 
dressing-cases  were  also  often  taken  on  a  campaign. 

As  for  display  and  luxury  in  dress,  that,  of  course, 
was  a  far  more  prominent  feature  of  a  military  career 
than  it  is  to-day. 

An  earlier  age  even  strove  to  make  its  cannon  orna- 
mental. Louis  XIV  emblazoned  their  breaches  with 
his  crown  and  cipher,  while  within  an  ornamental 
scroll  was  contained  the  significant  words,  "  Ultima 
Ratio  Regum." 

An  even  more  characteristic  inscription  was  that 
which  Oliver  Cromwell  had  cast  upon  some  of  his 
artillery :  "  Lord,  open  Thou  our  lips,  and  our  mouth 
shall  shew  forth  Thy  praise." 

In  old  days  officers'  trappings  and  swords  were 
often  real  works  of  art.  Up  to  quite  recent  times 
accoutrements,  as  well  as  swords  of  honour,  used  to 
be  presented  to  prominent  personalities  as  a  sort  of 
testimonial. 

In  1 86 1,  for  instance,  the  Lancashire  Rifle  Volun- 
teer Corps  presented  a  set  of  accoutrements  to 
Ricciotti  Garibaldi,  son  of  General  Garibaldi,  the 
great  Italian  patriot.  The  accoutrements  consisted 
of  shoulder-belt,  sword-belt,  and  frog-belt,  with  silver 
ornaments. 


242    FANCIES,   FASHIONS,   AND   FADS 

Some  still  surviving  military  accoutrements  are 
of  curious  origin — the  two  pins  in  a  lancer  officer's 
shoulder-belt  were  originally  worn  in  order  to  clear 
out  the  touch-hole  of  the  flint-lock  pistol. 

The  origin  of  aiguillettes  has  given  rise  to  much 
controversy ;  the  most  generally  accepted  theory  is 
that  an  aide-de-camp  was  given  these  trappings  so 
that  he  could  rest  his  arm  in  the  cords  while  writing 
with  a  pencil  suspended  from  another  cord. 

Every  army  has,  of  course,  got  something  from 
some  other  army,  and  as  in  the  past  some  of  our 
regiments  consisted  largely  of  foreign  officers  and 
men,  it  is  not  extraordinary  that  we  should  in  some 
cases  have  copied  foreign  equipment.  One  of  the 
first  lieutenant-colonels  of  the  6oth  Rifles,  when  it 
was  the  Royal  American  Regiment,  was  Henri 
Bouquet,  a  Swiss,  who  had  served  in  the  Dutch 
and  Sardinian  Armies.  The  6oth,  in  its  early  days, 
had  a  peculiarly  foreign  character,  composed  as  it 
was  of  Lowenstein  Fusiliers,  Waldstein's  Chasseurs, 
and  the  regiment  of  Hompesch,  the  latter  of  whom, 
I  believe,  bestowed  upon  it  its  badge.  The  Rifle 
officers'  dress,  in  any  case,  was  originally  merely 
that  of  a  German  hussar. 

Many  regiments  possess  pieces  of  mess- plate 
recalling  glorious  incidents  connected  with  their 
history. 

One  of  the  most  interesting  of  these  is  the  centre- 
piece of  the  ist  Battalion  of  the  Buffs,  the  subject 
of  which  is  the  heroic  deed  of  an  officer,  Latham 
by  name,  at  Albuera,  in  which  battle  he  kept  his 


LATHAM  243 

hold   on  the  colours  even  when    one   arm  had  been 
cut  off. 

The  gallant  soldier,  in  fact,  rigidly  followed  the 
rule  of  conduct  which  used  to  be  laid  down  for 
ensigns  during  the  Thirty  Years'  War. 

At  that  period,  when  a  colour-bearer  for  the  first 
time  received  the  regimental  colour,  he  was  ad- 
monished "  to  treat  it  as  a  bride  and  daughter ;  if 
need  be  to  take  it  from  the  right  hand  to  the  left, 
or  if  both  arms  were  shot  or  cut  off,  to  hold  it  in 
his  mouth ;  and  when  neither  help  nor  hope  remained, 
wrap  himself  in  it,  and  after  commending  his  soul 
to  God,  to  be  stabbed  and  die  in  it  as  befitted 
an  honest  man." 

Latham  recovered  from  his  wounds.  He  appears 
to  have  considered  himself  an  ill-used  man,  for,  leaving 
the  army,  he  married  a  Frenchwoman  and  settled 
down  in  France  to  farm, 

I  have  an  idea  that  Latham,  the  aviator,  who  died 
in  1912  while  hunting  big-game  in  Africa,  was  related 
to  the  gallant  colour-bearer  of  Albuera.  Neither  the 
adjutant  of  the  ist  Buffs  nor  that  kindliest  of  men, 
Lieutenant-Colonel  Newnham  Davis,  who  is  an 
authority  on  such  matters,  could  give  me  any  definite 
information.  One  thing,  however,  is  certain — both 
Lathams,  whether  related  to  one  another  or  not,  were 
exceptionally  brave  men. 

It  is  pleasant  indeed  to  learn  that  a  singularly 
appropriate  monument  is  about  to  be  erected  at 
Sangatte  to  the  memory  of  Hubert  Latham.  The 
gallant  aviator  who  was  the  first  who  attempted  to 


244    FANCIES,   FASHIONS,   AND   FADS 

fly  across  the  Channel  will  be  represented  standing 
on  a  rock,  a  cigarette  between  his  fingers.  At  the 
foot  of  a  column  nearly  40  feet  high  there  will  be  a 
figure  representing  Aviation,  pointing  with  outstretched 
hand  towards  the  English  coast. 

A  number  of  picturesque  and  stately  ceremonies 
formerly  inaugurated  a  military  career.  One  of  these, 
"  the  blessing  of  the  swords,"  still  prevails  at  Wiener 
Neustadt  in  Austria.  During  a  recent  review  held 
at  the  Military  Academy  to  celebrate  the  eighty-third 
anniversary  of  the  Emperor  Francis  Joseph's  birth, 
a  number  of  young  officers  took  a  solemn  oath  of 
fealty  over  their  drawn  swords  held  out  towards 
a  chaplain,  after  whom  they  repeated  "  Faithful 
unto  Death." 

All  this  is  akin  to  the  spirit  which  animated  the 
brave  Charles  XII  of  Sweden.  When  for  the  first 
time  that  monarch  was  under  fire,  he  inquired 
what  the  hissing  he  heard  about  his  ears  was,  and 
being  told  that  it  was  caused  by  the  musket-balls, 
"Good!"  he  exclaimed;  "this  henceforth  shall  be 
my  music." 

Much  of  our  military  ceremonial  came  from  the 
Continent.  In  all  probability  that  picturesque  sur- 
vival, the  presentation  at  Windsor  Castle  of  the 
Waterloo  banner,  by  which  Strathfieldsaye  is  held 
by  the  family  of  the  first  Duke  of  Wellington,  is  of 
foreign  origin.  A  banner  similar  to  that  carried  by 
Napoleon's  army  is  suspended  over  the  bust  of  the 
illustrious  Duke  in  the  Guard  Chamber,  opposite  to 
that  of  the  Duke  of  Marlborough,  where  it  remains 
until  replaced  by  its  successor. 


THE    POMP   OF   THE   PAST         245 

A  similar  ceremony  is  observed  in  connexion  with 
the  tenure  of  Blenheim,  the  banner  bearing,  however, 
the  lilies  of  France,  in  reference  to  the  army  van- 
quished by  Marlborough. 

In  both  cases  a  new  banner  is  presented  every 
year. 

At  present  a  general  idea  prevails  that  all  this  sort 
of  thing  is  merely  archaic  folly.  The  spirit  of  the  age 
is  indeed  rather  inclined  to  laugh  at  all  military 
display  as  childish  folly.  In  England  I  think  this 
has  been  largely  brought  about  by  officers  never 
wearing  their  uniform  off  duty. 

The  eighteenth-century  English  officer  was  proud 
of  his  scarlet  coat,  and  did  not  rush  to  doff  it  when 
he  had  gone  off  duty. 

Previous  to  the  latter  forties  of  the  last  century 
officers  appear  to  have  worn  a  uniform  blue  frock- 
coat  even  in  everyday  life.  They  had  then,  however, 
ceased  to  wear  their  swords,  which  even  many  years 
before  they  had  come  to  regard  as  an  inconvenience 
in  private  life.  The  Duke  of  Wellington  is  supposed 
to  have  discouraged  officers  wearing  their  regimentals, 
as  the  term  then  was,  his  idea  being  that  the  sight 
of  too  many  red  or  blue  coats  would  arouse  feeling 
against  the  Army,  which  was  already  not  too  popular 
with  a  large  section  of  the  population. 

The  world  has  always  associated  a  soldier  with 
pomp  and  show,  and  the  old  school  of  colonels 
attached  great  importance  to  their  officers  and  men 
being  the  pink  of  smartness  both  in  and  out  of 
uniform. 


246    FANCIES,   FASHIONS,   AND   FADS 

Not  a  few  commanders  were  veritable  martinets 
with  regard  to  even  quite  trifling  matters  of  equip- 
ment ;  a  sash  tied  wrong  or  a  button  out  of  place 
was  capable  of  throwing  them  into  almost  a  frenzy. 

The  health  of  the  soldier  was  even  sometimes 
sacrificed  to  the  exigencies  of  show  and  smartness  ; 
for  instance,  the  old-fashioned  high  stock  must  have 
been  most  uncomfortable  to  wear. 

Up  to  the  middle  of  the  fifties  of  the  last  century, 
for  instance,  the  Guards  wore  white  trousers  in 
summer,  the  effect  of  which  must  have  well  con- 
trasted with  the  scarlet  of  their  coats. 

At  the  time  of  the  remodelling  of  British  uniforms 
after  the  Crimean  War,  the  present  dark-coloured 
trousers  were  adopted  for  wear  all  through  the  year. 
One  of  the  chief  reasons  for  the  change,  I  have  been 
told,  was  the  contention  that  the  trousers  needed 
constant  washing,  and  in  consequence  the  men  often 
put  them  on  wet,  with  the  result  that  rheumatism 
and  chills  were  very  prevalent  throughout  the 
brigade. 

What  a  change  from  the  present  state  of  affairs, 
when  all  sorts  of  hygienic  safeguards  are  enforced 
in  the  Army,  and  all  vestiges  of  the  old  "  pipeclay  " 
system  are  discouraged  ! 

It  is  a  relief  to  turn  from  the  inartistic  and  often 
childish  vagaries  of  those  responsible  for  military 
uniforms  to  the  sensible  system  which  regulates  the 
costume  of  our  Navy.  Beyond  some  slight  altera- 
tions, a  naval  officer's  dress  has  not  been  seriously 
altered  for  some  sixty  years. 


NAVAL   UNIFORM  247 

Regular  uniform  for  seamen  would  appear  to  have 
only  been  introduced  into  the  Navy  in  1857,  although 
for  many  years  previously  captains  used  to  dress 
the  crews  of  their  principal  boats  either  in  a  fanciful 
way  or  in  a  style  appropriate  to  the  name  of  the 
ship  they  commanded.  Admiral  Dundas,  for  instance, 
rigged  his  men  out  in  the  Dundas  tartan,  and  a 
certain  captain  of  the  Tiger  had  jerseys  with  yellow 
and  black  stripes  served  out  to  the  crew  of  his  boat. 
The  familiar  term  "blazer"  takes  its  origin  from 
this  old  naval  custom,  the  captain  of  H.M.S.  Blazer 
in  1845  having  equipped  his  ship's  company  in  blue 
and  white  striped  guernseys,  which  originated  the 
expression  now  in  general  use. 

Some  captains  carried  eccentricity  to  great  lengths. 
The  gig's  crew  of  the  Harlequin  in  1853  were  dressed 
as  harlequins,  and  about  the  same  time  the  captain 
of  the  Constance  rigged  out  his  own  boatmen  in 
dungaree  suits  with  red  sashes  and  long  sheath-knives 
in  their  belts.  This  costume  however,  the  Com- 
mander-in-Chief  at  Rio  declined  to  sanction. 

Irregularity  in  naval  uniform  continued  to  prevail 
for  some  time  after  the  issue  of  the  official  circular 
of  January  30,  1857,  but  for  many  years  now  the 
prescribed  pattern  has  been  strictly  followed.  Never- 
theless as  late  as  the  early  seventies  ships'  bands 
were  dressed  according  to  the  taste  and  fancy  of 
captains  and  officers. 


IX 
FADS 

IT  is  no  exaggeration  to  say  that  this  is  the  golden 
age  of  the  fad. 
Never  before   in  the  world's   history   has   this 
particular    form    of    egotism    had    such    chances    of 
flourishing  as  it  has  to-day.      In  rougher  and  more 
matter-of-fact   times    our   ancestors    did    not   give    it 
much  chance  of  developing,  but  to-day  even  the  most 
insensate   little   fad   has  a  good  chance   of  reaching 
honourable  maturity. 

When  a  fad  grows  up  it  becomes  what  the  Press 
calls  a  "movement,"  has  its  own  society,  its  secretary, 
and  sometimes  its  own  little  balance-sheet. 

In  accordance  with  the  demand  for  them  fads 
naturally  multiply  ;  at  the  present  day  their  name  is 
legion.  Besides  the  great,  big,  flourishing,  and 
financially  prosperous  fads,  based  upon  some  real 
foundation  of  truth,  like  Woman's  Suffrage,  Temper- 
ance, Cruelty  to  Animals,  and  other  varieties  of 
social  reform,  there  are  quantities  of  lesser  fads 
which  do  very  well  indeed. 

Such     are      Anti-vivisection,     Anti-sport,      Anti- 
gambling,    the    craze    for   licensing    and   controlling 
348 


"PROGRESSIVE"  FADS  249 

everything  and  everybody,  and  numberless  others 
based  upon  an  imaginary  right  to  make  people  vir- 
tuous by  Act  of  Parliament. 

A  rather  old-fashioned  fad  of  this  sort  is  the  one 
which  seeks  to  make  the  Sabbath  a  day  of  complete 
dullness  and  gloom,  the  whole  of  it  to  be  spent 
either  in  church,  contemplation,  or  sleep.  Some 
formerly  carried  this  fad  so  far  that  they  disliked 
papers  being  opened  or  read  in  their  house  on  Sunday. 

The  anti-corporal  punishment  fanatics  are  another 
group.  I  wonder  what  they  have  to  say  to  the 
recent  report  of  the  Governor  of  Delaware,  a  State 
which  still  retains  the  old-fashioned  whipping- 
posts ? 

These  relics  of  a  brutal  age,  far  from  exercising  a 
demoralizing  influence,  according  to  the  report  in 
question,  reduce  crime  to  a  minimum,  there  being 
a  great  fear  of  the  public  disgrace  attached  to  a 
sentence  of  public  castigation. 

The  London  County  Council  has  had  many  expen- 
sive fads ;  happily  most  of  these  have  now  been 
squashed.  Quite  recently  a  little-known  fad  of  theirs, 
"  the  Farmfield  Colony  for  Drunkards,"  has  been 
closed. 

This  interesting  social  experiment  in  an  existence 
of  ten  years  cost  the  ratepayers  ;£  100,000,  without, 
of  course,  materially  affecting  drunkenness. 

Only  19  per  cent  of  the  six  hundred  cases  dealt 
with  proved  amenable  to  treatment — whatever  that 
may  mean — the  percentage  of  cures  being  considerably 
lower. 


250    FANCIES,   FASHIONS,   AND   FADS 

Wholesale  faddism  may  be  said  to  be  the  peculiar 
appanage  of  the  so-called  Progressives,  who  seem 
ready  to  take  up  all  sorts  of  wild  schemes. 

No  one  has  ever  spent  so  much  money  upon  fads 
as  they ;  witness  the  London  steamboats,  which, 
costing  an  enormous  sum,  had,  owing  to  lack  of 
passengers,  to  be  sold  for  a  song. 

The  fads  of  the  past  were  purely  insular,  but  pre- 
sently we  shall  be  confronted  with  the  international 
fad.  The  substantial,  if  inartistic,  result  of  this 
particular  craze  is  the  Palace  of  Peace  at  the 
Hague,  the  building  of  which,  by  the  way,  was 
immediately  followed  by  the  especially  sanguinary 
Russo-Japanese  War. 

This  dream  of  perpetual  peace  among  the  nations, 
however,  is  no  new  thing. 

When  it  first  became  known  to  the  world  that  very 
important  improvements  had  been  made  in  cannon 
and  fire-arms,  while  leading  military  authorities  were 
of  opinion  that  the  art  of  war  would  undergo  an  entire 
change,  altruists  and  peacemakers  went  so  far  as  to 
hope  that  war  would  become  impossible,  as  certain 
death  awaited  all  combatants. 

This  is  the  halcyon  age  of  legislative  Paul  Prys,  who 
stick  at  nothing  in  their  advocacy  of  various  fads. 
Many  of  these  people,  while  perfectly  sincere,  live  in 
the  impulse  of  the  moment,  and  if  facts  constitute  an 
obstruction  either  declare  that  they  are  no  longer 
facts  or  ignore  them  altogether.  Their  own  ideas 
for  the  most  part  are  based  upon  half  fact  and  half 
fiction ;  so  many  a  good  man  or  woman  fights  a  life- 


EXPERIMENTAL   FADDISTS        251 

long  battle,  the  result  of  which  must,  of  necessity,  be 
hopeless. 

Such  people,  however  self-sacrificing  and  well- 
meaning  they  may  be,  are  as  a  rule  quite  incapable 
of  taking  a  sane  view  of  the  questions  with  which 
they  deal. 

Imbued  with  an  uncritical  spirit  of  enthusiasm  for 
righting  wrongs  and  moralizing  all  the  world,  they 
entirely  disregard  or  disguise  the  experience  of 
past  ages. 

No  disorders  have  employed  so  many  quacks  as 
those  that  have  no  cure,  and  no  sciences  have 
exercised  so  many  pens  as  those  that  have  no 
certainty. 

Trying  social  experiments  upon  the  less  fortunate 
classes  (for  the  very  wealthy  are  little  affected  by 
grandmotherly  legislation)  has  now  almost  reached 
the  pitch  of  having  become  one  of  our  national  sports. 
Thousands  of  people  belong  to  some  society  or  other 
for  the  reform  of  somebody  or  something,  thereby,  of 
course,  indirectly  supporting  a  secretary  and  his 
family,  perhaps  about  the  only  satisfactory  result  of 
the  whole  thing. 

Quacks  with  legislative  cures  for  every  kind  of 
social  evil  are  now  as  plentiful  as  Jews  on  the  Stock 
Exchange. 

One  consolation  is  that,  owing  to  our  super- 
abundant reformers,  we  shall  soon  have  so  many 
meddlesome  laws  and  regulations  that  the  lot  of  them 
will  fall  into  abeyance. 

A  study  of  the  Bills  annually  brought  forward  in 


252    FANCIES,   FASHIONS,  AND   FADS 

the  House  of  Commons  is  an  excellent  demonstration 
of  the  pitch   to  which  faddism   can  be  carried. 

Happily  for  England,  most  of  the  more  outrageous 
Bills  promoted  by  private  members  are  never  allowed 
to  come  to  maturity. 

A  large  number  always  deal  with  the  repression 
of  forms  of  sport  odious  to  sentimentalists. 

The  earliest  legislation  for  the  protection  of  animals 
of  the  brute  creation  was  one  of  the  most  salutary  and 
just  legislative  innovations  ever  brought  forward.  All 
credit  to  Lord  Erskine  and  Richard  Martin  for  having 
been  the  foremost  in  the  England  of  the  past  to  im- 
prove the  lot  of  the  brute  creation. 

The  legislative  proposals  of  many  modern  animal 
lovers,  however,  go  much  too  far  ;  some,  indeed,  seem 
to  set  a  higher  value  on  the  life  of  a  brute  than  on 
that  of  a  man. 

Said  one  of  these  to  me :  "If  I  saw  any  one  ill- 
treating  a  horse,  I  should  consider  myself  perfectly 
justified  in  killing  him."  Ill-balanced  fanaticism  can 
go  no  further  than  this. 

Of  Bills  dealing  with  so-called  temperance,  there 
is,  of  course,  no  end.  Private  members'  Bills  drafted 
with  the  intention  of  making  people  moral  by  Act  of 
Parliament  also  abound.  Mr.  Josiah  King  is  a  great 
promoter  of  this  sort  of  legislation,  which,  for  some 
curious  reason,  generally  has  the  support  of  the 
Labour  party — the  English  proletariat,  which  it 
claims  to  represent,  cannot  justly  be  called  hypo- 
critical or  canting. 

Of  late  years  a  tendency  towards  this  particularly 


AN  EMOTIONAL   FOX-HUNTER     253 

futile  and  rather  nauseous  form  of  faddism  has  also 
made  its  appearance  in  the  House  of  Lords.  Oddly 
enough,  about  its  warmest  supporter  there  seems  to 
be  that  genial,  if  somewhat  emotional,  fox-hunter, 
Lord  Willoughby  de  Broke,  who  was  carried  away 
by  the  hysterical  movement  which  manufactured  the 
outcry  as  to  the  really  non-existent  English  "  White 
Slave  Trade." 

This,  after  all,  is  merely  a  new  name  for  an  evil 
of  immemorial  antiquity.  Like  the  "  Cobra  Corrugata 
of  the  Yangtze-kiang,"  for  a  view  of  which  the  old 
showman  refused  to  take  the  Iron  Duke's  shilling : 
"  It's  only  the  Old  Sarpint  with  a  new  coat  of 
paint." 

The  lamentable  thing  is  that  social  reformers 
who  deal  with  this  evil  will  never  trouble  to  inves- 
tigate the  unfortunate  results  which  have  invariably 
followed  upon  every  attempt  at  compulsory  moral- 
ization.  The  measures  they  advocate  are  too  drastic, 
their  promoters  frequently  carrying  an  extreme  desire 
to  stamp  out  vice  beyond  reasonable  bounds.  Many 
who  should  be  diverting  their  energies  into  more 
useful  channels,  become  like  that  holy  Pontiff,  Pius  V, 
who  is  stated  by  a  chronicler  to  have  been  so  occu- 
pied in  re-establishing  and  improving  "his  admirable 
Inquisition,"  that  the  concerns  of  the  people  went 
to  ruin. 

The  real  truth  as  to  the  White  Slave  agitation 
was  admirably  exposed  by  Mrs.  Billington  Greig  in 
the  June  number  of  the  English  Review.  It  is 
highly  regrettable  that  Lord  Willoughby  de  Broke, 


254     FANCIES,   FASHIONS,   AND   FADS 

Mr.  Arthur  Lee,  and  others  instead  of  being 
gulled  by  the  sensational  statements  which  Mrs. 
Greig  has  so  ably  proved  to  be  mere  hysterical 
fabrications,  do  not  devote  their  energies  to  a  real 
evil  and  attempt  to  deal  with  the  terrible  hidden 
scourge  which  constitutes  a  real  danger  to  the 
national  health.  Untold  human  suffering  might  be 
alleviated  if  serious  attention  were  paid  to  the  de- 
mands of  those  who  appeal  for  a  Royal  Commission  to 
investigate  the  facts  concerning  these  diseases.  This 
appeared  in  the  Morning  Post  of  July  22,  1913, 
signed  by  the  President  of  the  Royal  College  of 
Physicians  and  the  leaders  of  the  medical  pro- 
fession. 

To  their  eternal  shame,  with  scarcely  an  exception, 
our  politicians  and  so-called  reformers,  fearing  un- 
popularity, dare  not  allude  to  what  is,  undoubtedly, 
a  national  disgrace. 

To  the  honour  of  the  British  Press,  a  certain  more 
enlightened  section  of  it  has  of  late  done  its  best 
to  arouse  public  opinion  as  to  the  penalty  which 
England  pays  for  its  wilful  blindness. 

Up  to  quite  recently,  any  one  who  attempted  to 
call  public  attention  to  the  present  terrible  state  of 
affairs  in  print  was  vilified  and  given  to  understand 
he  had  much  better  leave  the  subject  alone.  I  ought 
to  know — when  some  years  ago  I  wrote  a  special 
chapter  in  "  Piccadilly  to  Pall  Mall,"  dealing  with  what 
has  now  come  to  be  regarded  as  a  real  and  grave 
scandal,  most  (but  not  all)  social  reformers  received 
it  with  scornful  abuse. 


GOOD   FADS  255 

Well  might  the  great  Goethe  say  that,  "If  any 
one  advances  anything  new  which  contradicts,  per- 
haps threatens  to  overturn,  the  creed  which  we  have 
for  years  repeated  and  have  handed  down  to  others, 
all  passions  are  raised  against  him,  and  every  effort 
is  made  to  crush  him !  " 

A  fad  well  worthy  of  respect  demands  prison 
reform  and  giving  people  who  have  been  in  prison 
a  fresh  start  in  life. 

The  spirit  of  this  agitation  is  akin  to  that  which 
caused  the  relaxation  of  the  old  criminal  law  which 
besides  being  terribly  severe  upon  malefactors,  dealt 
much  too  ferociously  with  any  one  who,  even  with 
good  reason,  troubled  the  public  peace. 

A  favourite  remedy  for  social  disaffection  was  then 
not  to  remove  its  causes,  but  to  imprison,  transport, 
and  hang  without  mercy.  While  Lord  Sidmouth 
held  the  post  of  Home  Secretary  fourteen  rioters 
were  hanged  at  York  in  1813,  eight  more  at  Leicester 
in  1817,  three  more  at  Nottingham  in  the  same  year, 
and  five  more  at  Ely  in  1819. 

As  for  ordinary  crime,  any  tampering  with  pro- 
perty was  punished  in  quite  savage  fashion  and 
many  people  were  executed  for  theft. 

On  one  occasion,  it  is  said,  a  jury,  under  the 
judge's  direction,  brought  a  woman  in  guilty  of  man- 
slaughter for  stealing  a  pair  of  breeches  ;  the  real  fact 
was  that  they  were  all  determined  to  save  her  from 
the  halter,  and  it  was  just  as  well  to  do  it  in  this 
manner  as  any  other. 

Those  were  rough    days,   and  curious  scenes  took 


256    FANCIES,   FASHIONS,   AND   FADS 

place  in  courts  of  justice,  as  the  following  speech 
by  a  judge  to  a  jury  well  shows  : 

"  Gentlemen  of  the  jury,  in  this  case  the  counsel 
on  both  sides  are  unintelligible,  the  witnesses 
incredible,  and  the  plaintiffs  and  defendants  are  both 
such  bad  characters  that  to  me  it  is  indifferent  which 
way  you  give  your  verdict."  Brevity,  satire,  and 
point  were  here  admirably  displayed. 

Another  brief,  witty  summing-up  was  that  of  a 
judge  who  was  trying  a  boy  for  having  stolen  a 
pudding. 

"  Gentlemen,"  said  he,  pointing  to  the  prisoner, 
"  there's  the  boy  and  there's  the  pudding !  " 

A  bad  fad  is  the  one  which  seeks  to  make  heroes 
out  of  criminals,  demands  the  abolition  of  capital 
punishment,  and  a  too  lenient  treatment  of  crime. 

Some  years  ago  there  was  a  fad  which  sought 
the  reduction  of  sentences,  but  I  believe  the  conse- 
quences were  so  disappointing  that  it  died  away. 
Still,  the  judges  of  to-day  are  more  lenient  than  those 
of  the  past.  About  the  last  representative  of  the 
stern  old  school,  who  was  a  real  terror  to  evil-doers, 
was  the  late  Lord  Brampton,  a  judge  who  dispensed 
justice  with  a  stern  hand  and  was  entirely  free 
from  judicial  sentimentalism.  Carrying  out  the  idea 
that  criminals  should  be  severely  punished  in  order 
to  check  crime,  he  took  no  account  of  chatter  about 
environment,  well-meaning  ideas,  and  chimerical 
fancies,  which,  in  the  end,  seemed  to  him  to  lead 
towards  social  anarchy.  There  is  no  doubt  that 
his  methods  were  to  a  great  extent  justified  by 


FRESH   AIR  257 

results  :  the  most  extraordinary  thing  about  them 
was  that  they  apparently  pleased  the  criminal 
classes  themselves,  with  whom  "  Old  Hawkins," 
as  they  familiarly  spoke  of  him,  enjoyed  great 
popularity. 

Lord  Brampton,  it  must,  however,  be  remembered, 
was  essentially  a  very  just  judge.  It  is  a  pity  that 
so  few  men  of  his  stamp  are  alive  to-day  to  combat 
the  tendency  towards  ridiculous  leniency.  The 
hysterical  faddists  who  make  a  criminal  more 
interesting  than  his  victims  are  merely  hindering 
the  execution  of  justice,  and  giving  the  criminal 
class  to  understand  that  the  proceedings  of  the 
judicial  bench  and  the  condemnation  of  a  jury  are  a 
solemn  farce.  It  is  inconceivable  that  importance 
should  be  attached  to  the  protests  of  persons  moved 
by  maudlin  sentimentality  or  pious  hypocrisy. 

Among  minor  social  fads  there  are  several  which, 
properly  controlled,  have  a  positively  beneficent 
effect.  Such  are  Fresh  air,  exercise,  and  vege- 
tarianism— the  two  last,  within  certain  limits,  good ; 
the  first,  excellent  at  all  times  and  for  all  people. 
Unfortunately,  owing  to  antique  prejudice,  the 
beneficial  effects  of  keeping  windows  open  is  not 
realized  by  most  of  the  population.  Go  down  any 
street  in  London  and  you  will  find  the  majority  of 
windows  shut.  A  large  number,  indeed,  are  very 
fond  of  the  opposition  fad  of,  under  all  circumstances, 
keeping  windows  shut.  Curiously  enough,  if  these 
lovers  of  stuffiness  fail  to  notice  that  a  window  is 
open  they  are  perfectly  content,  but  let  a  sash  creak 


258    FANCIES,   FASHIONS,   AND   FADS 

and  they  immediately  indulge  in  peculiar  pantomimic 
movements  expressive  of  disgust. 

While  the  fad  for  fresh  air  can,  no  doubt,  be  carried 
too  far,  it  should  be  remembered  that  "just  as  a 
fish  cannot  flourish  in  dirty  water,  so  man  cannot 
flourish  in  foul  air." 

The  most  convincing  proof,  however,  of  the  relation 
between  a  free  current  of  air  and  health  is  the 
remarkable  and  well-authenticated  fact  that  in  warfare 
the  wounded  placed  in  tents  always  get  well  far 
more  quickly  than  those  tended  within  four  walls. 
The  proportion  of  recoveries  amongst  those  who 
have  been  nursed  in  tents  is  also  far  greater. 

The  purely  modern  fad  for  exercise,  while  bene- 
ficial to  some,  makes  no  difference  and  is  positively 
hurtful  to  others,  mainly  for  the  reason  that  they 
do  not  know  when  to  stop.  Hard  exercise  in  the 
case  of  a  man  over  forty  is  more  or  less  contrary 
to  nature  ;  no  animal  which  has  reached  full  maturity 
goes  tearing  about  merely  for  the  love  of  the  thing. 

A  charming  friend  of  mine,  poor  fellow!  un- 
doubtedly owed  his  death  to  exercise. 

For  some  reason  or  other,  although  as  thin  as  a 
lath,  he  made  it  a  practice  to  run  round  the  Park 
every  morning  before  breakfast.  As  he  got  older 
and  thinner  some  of  his  friends  begged  him  to  desist. 
Nothing,  however,  could  make  him  listen  to  their 
remonstrances,  and  so  at  the  comparatively  early  age 
of  forty-eight,  he  was  one  morning  found  in  a  state  of 
collapse  on  his  doorstep,  from  which  he  was  never  to 
start  again. 


VEGETARIANISM  259 

Vegetarianism,  when  carried  to  excess,  is  liable 
to  upset  certain  constitutions,  but  as  a  check  upon 
the  modern  habit  of  eating  enormous  quantities  of 
meat  it  has  its  uses.  Devotees  of  this  particular 
fad  seem,  for  the  most  part,  to  be  people  of  a  gentle, 
refined,  and  often  clever  disposition,  and  there  is 
no  doubt  that  a  number  of  them  are  better  without 
meat,  for  which  they  have  an  instinctive  dislike. 

On  the  other  hand,  when  it  is  taken  up  with 
immoderate  enthusiasm  by  any  one  who  has  been 
accustomed  to  a  generous  and  unrestricted  diet,  it 
is  liable  to  produce  weakness  and  depression, 
causing  uneasiness  to  relatives.  In  such  cases  tactful 
measures  are  the  best. 

Lunching  with  a  friend  fond  of  food  fads,  I 
observed  that  he  touched  no  meat,  but  ate  only 
certain  strange  vegetarian  dishes,  which  had  evi- 
dently been  prepared  for  his  special  consumption. 

Later  on,  I  inquired  of  his  wife  if  this  new  diet 
agreed  with  her  husband. 

"It  didn't  at  first,"  she  replied,  "but  it  does 
now." 

"  From  his  looks  he  certainly  seems  to  thrive  on 
it.  He  never  looked  more  robust  in  his  life." 

"  I  take  care  of  that,"  she  went  on,  "  though  I 
hope  he  won't  find  it  out.  No  man  partakes  of  a 
more  carnivorous  diet  than  he.  Every  one  of  those 
vegetable  courses  you  saw  to-day  was  full  of  the 
strongest  meat  juice  which,  by  my  orders,  is  put  into 
everything  served  to  him  before  it  appears  on  the 
table." 


260    FANCIES,   FASHIONS,   AND   FADS 

This  pious  fraud,  I  understand,  still  continues, 
with  evident  benefit  to  my  friend's  health. 

Conscientious  scruples  as  to  the  killing  of  animals 
causes  a  certain  number  of  people  to  be  vegetarians. 
I  have  known  some,  indeed,  who,  owing  to  ex- 
aggerated considerations  of  this  kind,  would  not  wear 
boots  made  of  leather ! 

This  idea  of  not  destroying  life  is  of  course  very 
much  akin  to  the  spirit  of  Buddhism,  which  now 
has  a  certain  number  of  followers  in  England. 
There  is,  indeed,  one  Buddhist  peer,  a  cousin  of 
mine,  who  some  years  ago  adopted  the  religion  in 
question. 

The  tenets  of  Buddhism  in  its  highest  and  purest 
state  are  very  fine.  The  ordinary  idea  that  the 
ultimate  aim  of  the  Buddhist  is  to  attain  peace  by 
means  of  annihilation  is  scarcely  fair.  The  grand 
finale — the  ultimate  consummation  set  before  the 
minds  of  Buddha's  worshippers — is  deification, 
apotheosis,  absorption  of  the  soul  into  God,  but 
not  its  annihilation.  When  they  plead  that  man's 
soul  should  seek  its  last  consummate  perfection  in 
deification,  in  union  and  communion  with  the  In- 
finite Deity  from  whom  it  sprang,  they  state  that, 
in  order  to  do  so,  it  must  "  get  rid  of  self  and 
selfishness,  or  its  separate  conditions  and  interests  "  ; 
but  not  that  it  must  get  rid  of  its  essence  of  being, 
which  is  to  be  glorified  and  expanded  by  union  with 
Deity,  and  by  no  means  to  be  reduced  to  nothing. 

The  Buddhists  continually  compare  the  human  soul 
to  a  drop  of  water,  severed  from  the  great  ocean  of 


BUDDHISM  261 

Deity  by  a  transitory  individuality  of  selfism  ;  and 
they  believe  that  this  drop  must  regain  its  original 
state  by  mingling  once  more  with  the  essential 
Fountain  of  existence  from  which  it  issued.  They 
allow,  indeed,  that  this  drop  may  pass  through  many 
changes,  metamorphoses,  and  revolutions  before  it 
recovers  its  original  union  with  God ;  but  they  do 
not  acknowledge  that  it  can  ever  utterly  perish, 
though  some  of  their  metaphysical  phrases  on  this 
topic  are  extremely  subtle  and  ambiguous,  and  often 
misunderstood. 

True  Buddhism  is  a  lofty,  noble,  and  altruistic  creed 
which  cannot  be  classed  with  the  fad  religions, 
mostly  manufactured  in  America,  which  during  the 
last  fifty  years  have  attracted  so  many. 

No  matter  how  absurd  may  be  its  tenets,  a  brand- 
new  religion  (as  a  rule,  cooked  up  from  some  old  one) 
is  sure  to  have  a  certain  amount  of  success. 

Man  has  need  of  something  wonderful,  Napoleon 
is  reported  to  have  told  O'Meara,  and  it  is  this  need 
which  causes  many  who  are  indifferent  to  religion 
to  consult  those  claiming  to  possess  occult  powers 
and  follow  the  charlatans  who  start  new  creeds. 

They  would  not  have  had  much  success  with  some 
of  the  stolid  old  school  of  Churchmen. 

One  of  this  type  once  said  to  me,  "  Never  bother 
yourself  about  disquieting  speculations ;  they  only 
lead  to  doubt  and  unhappiness !  Go  to  church 
regularly  on  Sunday,  and  leave  the  rest  to  the 
parson,  whose  business  it  is  to  think  out  these 
things.  I  go  to  the  best  bootmaker  in  London 


262    FANCIES,   FASHIONS,   AND   FADS 

for  my  boots,  to  the  best  tailor  for  my  clothes,  and 
the  best  gunmaker  for  my  guns,  and  I  don't  bother 
them  as  to  the  details  of  their  work,  provided  it  is 
properly  done.  I  have  been  brought  up  in  the 
Church  of  England  and,  therefore,  am  naturally 
perfectly  satisfied  to  follow  the  man  who  knows  most 
about  it — you  may  be  sure  the  Archbishop  of  Canter- 
bury wouldn't  be  paid  the  salary  he  gets  if  he  wasn't 
an  expert  about  the  whole  thing." 

Crude  as  it  is,  such  an  attitude  is  undoubtedly 
more  healthy  than  being  carried  away  by  one  of  the 
numerous  forms  of  fad  religion  which,  for  some 
curious  reason,  attract  a  large  number  of  people. 
There  is  at  all  events  dignity  about  the  old-established 
faiths ;  about  the  new,  none.  The  ritual  of  the 
latter  is  merely  a  hotchpotch  of  scraps,  picked  out 
of  more  dignified  forms  of  worship.  It  is,  indeed, 
for  the  most  part  but  a  very  cheap  form  of 
spiritual  patent  medicine,  the  prescription  for  which 
has  been  prepared  by  an  unlicensed  and  sometimes 
designing  quack. 

In  this  age  of  fads  it  might  be  worth  while  for 
some  crank  to  revive  a  curious  form  of  religion  which 
some  fifty  years  ago  was  started  by  a  Dr.  Edward 
Lowenthal.  This  sect,  which  was  called  the  "  Cogi- 
tants,"  had  as  their  motto:  "Our  knowledge  is  our 
faith  ;  our  dignity  is  our  morality  ;  our  worship  is  life  ; 
and  our  religion  is — our  secret."  A  few  of  their 
doctrines  and  practices  were  as  follows  :  Neither  theft 
nor  fraud  could  be  punished  with  imprisonment. 
Women  were  to  have  a  part  in  the  Church  govern- 


MATERIALISM  263 

ment.  Only  the  lower  part  of  a  coffin  should  be 
buried  in  the  earth.  All  good  Cogitants  (the  head  of 
whom  was  to  wear  a  black  camlet  cloak  with  upright 
collar  and  three  silver  stars  on  it)  were  to  have  a 
good  dinner  for  nothing,  and  dine  in  public  on 
Christmas  Day,  Easter  Sunday,  and  Whit  Sunday. 

Materialism,  as  a  fad,  seems  now  rather  out  of 
fashion,  but  it  had  a  considerable  vogue  in  the  seven- 
ties after  Darwin  had  published  his  "Origin  of  Species." 
It  does  not  seem  to  be  so  active  now,  perhaps  owing 
to  the  harmony  between  religion  and  science  inter- 
mittently discovered  by  the  English  Press. 

Materialism  is  the  concomitant  of  religious  apathy 
rather  than  its  cause.  There  is  no  doubt,  I  think, 
that  the  apathy  in  question  is  largely  produced  by  the 
tendency  of  the  Church  to  attach  more  importance  to 
dogma  and  ceremonial  forms  than  is  in  consonance 
with  the  age  or  with  the  spirit  of  the  Protestant 
Church,  which,  after  all,  should  be  widely  progressive 
and  not  a  mere  copy  of  Roman  Catholicism. 

The  High  Church  clergy  are  no  doubt  very  devoted 
and  sincere,  but  in  spite  of  their  self-sacrifice  and 
fervour  they  have  unconsciously  shaken  the  founda- 
tions of  the  Church  of  England.  Numbers  of  people, 
in  disgust  at  the  slavish  copying  of  Roman  Catholic 
ceremonial,  cease  to  go  to  church  at  all.  In  particular, 
the  labouring  classes  in  country  districts,  as  is  well 
known,  prefer  the  simpler  and  more  austere  worship 
of  Nonconformist  chapels. 

Numbers  of  others,  becoming  accustomed  to  ornate 
worship,  finally  determine  to  go  the  whole  hog  and 


264    FANCIES,   FASHIONS,   AND   FADS 

betake  themselves  to  Rome.  Not  so  very  long  ago 
almost  all  the  congregation  of  a  High  Church  in 
Brighton  embraced  Catholicism,  and  quite  recently  a 
brotherhood  of  so-called  Church  of  England  monks 
in  Essex  did  the  same. 

The  progress  which  Roman  Catholicism  has  made 
among  well-to-do  people  of  late  years  is  a  highly 
significant  social  symptom.  This  going  over  to  Rome, 
however,  is  essentially  a  Society  fad.  Among  the 
masses  the  Roman  Church  draws  comparatively  few 
recruits,  and  they  still  retain  a  good  deal  of  that 
prejudice  which  was  so  actively  displayed  in  the 
Gordon  Riots.  Even  in  Mid- Victorian  days  Anti- 
Romanism  was  a  common  and  rather  powerful  fad. 

The  announcement  in  1859,  for  instance,  that  the 
then  Prince  of  Wales,  the  late  King,  was  to  reside  in 
Rome  a  few  months  gave  rise  to  not  a  little  feeling 
in  English  religious  circles,  a  portion  of  which  frankly 
declared  that  he  would  be  injured  by  what  he  saw 
and  heard  in  the  Eternal  City.  A  more  tolerant 
section  was  of  opinion  that  the  Romanism  which  he 
would  witness  might  provoke  his  antagonism  and 
strengthen  his  faith.  Those  who  were  most  alarmed 
at  Roman  Catholic  ceremonial  showed  the  greatest 
feeling  on  this  subject ;  those  who  were  not  so  much 
alarmed  said  that  the  young  Prince  had  received  a 
Protestant  education  which  would  effectually  preserve 
him  from  being  tempted. 

The  fanaticism  and  intolerance  aroused  by  the 
controversies  which  followed  on  the  Reformation, 
itself  perhaps  a  sort  of  superior  kind  of  fad,  had  not 


HARMLESS   FADS  265 

then  totally  subsided — to-day  most  people  seem  to 
have  forgotten  what  was  undoubtedly  one  of  the  most 
striking  events  in  the  history  of  the  human  mind. 
Every  pen  was  engaged  in  the  dispute,  and  the 
faddists  of  that  day  had  plenty  to  employ  their 
energies.  Protestants,  alternately  with  Catholics, 
used  the  stage  and  drama  as  instruments  of  contro- 
versy, each  party,  of  course,  complaining  of  their 
licentiousness.  The  Protestant  Liturgy,  restored  at 
the  accession  of  Elizabeth  after  its  suppression  under 
Mary,  was  attacked  by  innumerable  .ballads  and 
interludes.  The  opposite  party  had  their  poets,  and 
every  day  produced  some  popular  ballad  for  or  against 
the  Reformation.  "The  stage,"  observed  Dr.  Percy, 
"  in  those  days  literally  was,  what  wise  men  had 
always  wished  it  to  be — a  supplement  to  the  pulpit. 
Chapter  and  verse  were  as  formally  quoted  as  in  a 
sermon."  On  the  other  side,  "  the  new  Gospellers" 
were  ridiculed  by  the  Catholics,  and  found  support  in 
the  elder  part  of  their  audience,  who  still  clung  to 
their  old  doctrines,  the  young  adopting  the  Reforma- 
tion in  its  fullest  sense.  The  conduct  of  the  Catholics 
called  down  a  proclamation  from  Edward  VI  (1549), 
wherein  we  find  that  the  Government  was  most 
anxious  that  these  plays  should  be  performed  in 
"  the  English  tongue  "  ;  nothing  was  said  about  Latin, 
because  probably  few  could  be  affected  by  treasonable 
utterances  in  that  language. 

There  are  many  quite  harmless  minor  fads  which 
have  an  amusing  side.  Such  a  one  is  the  "  phonetic 
spelling  fad  " ;  many  words  spelt  in  the  new  fashion, 


266    FANCIES,   FASHIONS,   AND   FADS 

which  it  seeks  to  make  general,  are  often  irresistibly 
comic.  Phonetic  spelling,  of  course,  is  quite  an  old- 
fashioned  thing. 

In  the  eighteenth  century,  accurate  spelling  was  a 
rare  accomplishment,  and  especially  amongst  fashion- 
able ladies.  Playing  at  the  old  parlour-game  of  "  I 
love  my  love  with  a  letter,"  three  ladies — Ladies 
Cheere,  Fielding,  and  Hill — are  supposed  to  have 
answered  as  follows : 

"I  love,"  began  the  first,  "my  love  with  an  N, 
because  he  is  a  night ; "  Lady  Fielding  followed  with, 
"  I  love  my  love  with  a  G,  because  he  is  a  gustice  ;  " 
"and  I  love  my  love  with  an  F,"  said  Lady  Hill, 
"  because  he  is  a  fisishun." 

No  modern  devotee  of  phonetic  spelling  could  do 
better. 

While  what  may  be  termed  public  fads — that  is,  fads 
which  seek  to  interfere  with  the  lives  or  doings  of 
other  people — have  enormously  increased  in  number, 
the  purely  private  fad  of  personal  eccentricity  is  not 
nearly  so  common  as  in  the  past. 

About  the  most  curious  fad  of  this  kind  was  the 
craze  which  wealthy  old  gentlemen  used  to  have  for 
keeping  an  enormous  balance  at  their  bankers'. 

"  I  want  to  borrow  ^40,00x3,"  said  an  old  peer, 
strolling  into  Coutts's  one  day. 

"  Rather  a  large  sum,  your  lordship.  May  I  venture 
to  inquire  why  you  need  it?"  said  the  partner  into 
whose  private  room  the  nobleman  had  been  shown. 

"  That's  my  business,"  was  the  reply. 

11  Of  course,  your  lordship   can   have    the  money  ; 


A   SUFFICIENT   BALANCE  267 

I  only  asked  because  I  thought  you  might  have 
forgotten  that  your  balance  here  is  ,£30,000 ! " 

"  And  always  will  be  !  "  snapped  out  the  old  peer,  as 
he  brusquely  got  up  and  left  the  room. 

The  truth  of  the  matter  was  that,  certain  inevitable 
expenses  threatening  to  reduce  the  balance  in  question, 
he  determined  to  take  measures  to  keep  an  even  larger 
sum  at  his  immediate  command. 

Another  similar  mania  was  a  craze  for  keeping 
great  sums  in  private  houses,  often  not  even  under 
lock  and  key. 

A  relative  of  the  present  writer,  who  died  in  the 
forties  of  the  last  century,  for  instance,  had  a  love 
for  putting  bank-notes  in  books,  and  a  sum  amounting 
to  little  short  of  ,£30,000  was  extracted  from  between 
the  leaves  of  his  library  by  his  executors. 

This  passion  for  ready  cash  sometimes  amounted  to 
something  like  a  mania.  A  former  Lord  Dysart,  who 
lived  more  or  less  an  invalid's  life  in  a  house  on  the 
outskirts  of  London,  carefully  watched  over  by  a  lady 
who  acted  as  a  sort  of  companion-nurse,  one  day  asked 
her  to  go  to  town  and  get  a  cheque  cashed  for  him  at 
the  Bank  of  England.  When  she  was  ready  to  start, 
the  old  peer  sat  down  at  his  writing-table,  and,  having 
written  out  a  cheque  for  ;£  100,000,  told  her  to  be  sure 
and  see  that  she  got  one  note  for  the  whole  amount. 

The  nurse,  as  may  be  imagined,  was  somewhat 
staggered  at  the  largeness  of  the  sum  ;  but,  having 
in  due  course  of  time  arrived  at  the  Bank,  presented 
the  cheque  for  payment,  with  the  request  that  the 
drawer  particularly  wanted  a  single  note  for  it. 


268    FANCIES,   FASHIONS,   AND   FADS 

The  cashier  communicated  with  the  manager,  who 
asked  the  nurse  to  step  into  his  private  office.  Having 
satisfied  himself  as  to  her  authority  for  making  such 
a  request,  he  said  that  if  she  did  not  object  he  would 
much  rather  send  a  clerk  to  accompany  her  with 
the  note. 

She  gladly  assented  to  this  arrangement,  and  in  due 
course  the  clerk  in  person  handed  the  ;£  100,000  note 
to  Lord  Dysart. 

After  having  done  so,  he  told  the  peer  that  only 
three  such  notes  were  in  existence.  "One,"  said  he, 
"  we  have  at  the  bank,  another  I  have  just  handed 
to  your  lordship,  and  the  third,  which  some  time  ago 
disappeared  from  circulation,  we  have  never  been  able 
to  trace." 

"  Perhaps  I  can  help  you,"  said  Lord  Dysart,  and, 
hobbling  over  to  a  bureau,  he  unlocked  a  drawer  and 
took  out  the  missing  ;£  100,000  note,  which  had  been 
lying  there  for  many  years. 

The  craze  for  having  an  unlimited  sum  of  ready 
money  at  immediate  command,  no  matter  at  what 
cost,  occasionally  affects  the  young  as  well  as  the  old. 

According  to  one  account,  taking  advantage  of 
this  idiosyncrasy  laid  the  foundations  of  the  late  Sam 
Lewis's  fortune. 

In  the  earlier  portion  of  this  great  moneylender's 
career,  when  he  was  making  a  livelihood  by  selling 
jewellery  on  commission  at  Brighton,  he  came  across 
a  rich  young  subaltern,  who,  in  addition  to  being  fond 
of  purchasing  costly  trinkets,  possessed  a  regular  craze 
for  ready  money. 


SAM    LEWIS  269 

This  young  officer  was  the  very  incarnation  of 
laziness,  and  could  not  bear  the  trouble  of  going  into 
his  affairs — drawing  cheques  even  when  money  was 
at  the  bank  to  meet  them  was  almost  too  great  a  tax 
upon  his  energies.  He  was,  however,  quite  prepared 
to  pay  handsome  interest  for  money  which  could  be 
obtained  without  bother. 

Sam,  with  that  shrewdness  which  was  his  character- 
istic, quietly  made  exhaustive  inquiries  into  the  young 
soldier's  affairs,  and  finding  that  the  latter  possessed 
ample  assets  if  he  chose  to  realize  them,  advanced  the 
simpleton  whatever  he  wanted  at  a  very  remunera- 
tive rate,  with  the  result  that  the  investment  (it  could 
hardly  be  called  a  speculation)  proved  highly  profit- 
able in  the  end. 

While  the  nucleus  of  Sam's  large  fortune  was, 
of  course,  made  by  moneylending,  a  very  con- 
siderable portion  was  the  result  of  successful  flutters 
in  the  City,  where  Sam  was  very  fortunate.  He,  too, 
had  one  dominating  fad — gambling.  At  cards  and  on 
the  turf  he  lost  many  thousands ;  nevertheless  in  an 
indirect  way  his  passion  for  high  play  rather  paid  him, 
for  it  undoubtedly  acted  as  a  big  advertisement  and 
brought  him  prominently  into  notice. 

At  Monte  Carlo,  where  he  was  a  well-known  figure, 
his  sensational  way  of  playing  in  maximums  always 
caused  him  to  be  surrounded  by  an  admiring  and 
envious  crowd. 

His  craze  for  card-playing  once  cost  him  many 
thousands.  At  a  club  on  the  Riviera,  organized, 
it  was  said,  especially  for  Sam's  benefit,  he  lost  one 


270    FANCIES,   FASHIONS,   AND    FADS 

night  many  thousands  at  baccarat.  Though  he  was 
afterwards  informed  that  it  was  highly  probable  he 
had  been  robbed,  he  characteristically  declined  to 
investigate  the  matter.  "  Anyhow,"  said  he,  "I  lost 
the  money  and  I'm  going  to  pay." 

As  his  will  showed,  he  had  a  somewhat  superior 
mind.  He  would,  indeed,  have  probably  succeeded  in 
any  line  he  had  chosen  to  adopt. 

"  I  don't  understand,  Sam,"  once  said  an  old  client 
of  his  to  him,  "  why  you  don't  retire  and  go  in  for 
politics  or  something.  With  your  money  and  brains 
you  would  be  sure  to  get  on." 

"  My  boy,"  was  the  reply,  "  it  would  be  hopeless 
for  me  to  try  a  new  line.  Everybody  knows  what 
I  am;  even  if  I  became  Archbishop  of  Canterbury, 
I  should  be  Sam  Lewis  the  moneylender  still." 

Although  in  his  latter  years  he  had  virtually  retired 
from  business,  only  negotiating  very  large  loans  on 
good  security,  the  genial  little  moneylender  had 
become  a  regular  West  End  institution.  His  death — 
resulting  from  a  chill  caught  looking  at  Queen 
Victoria's  funeral  procession — gave  many  a  great 
shock. 

"  Good  gracious  me ! "  said  a  well-known  man 
about  town  on  hearing  the  sad  news;  "here's  the 
poor  old  Queen  gone  at  one  end  of  the  week 
and  Sam  Lewis  at  the  other!  Whatever's  going  to 
happen  next?" 

In  his  own  particular  line  Sam  was  a  master  of 
diplomacy  and  tact.  A  proof  of  this  was  that  his 
name  very  rarely  figured  in  cases  of  bankruptcy  or 


MONEYLENDERS  271 

the  like,  nor  was  he  ever  heard  of  as  suing  any  one 
for  small  sums. 

His  knowledge  of  men  about  town  was  so  accurate 
that  he  very  seldom  made  a  mistake.  A  would-be 
borrower  whom  he  did  not  wish  to  offend  he  would 
often  get  rid  of  by  lending  him  a  small  sum  at  no 
interest  at  all ;  others  he  would  contrive  to  foist  off 
on  to  some  humbler  member  of  the  moneylending  tribe. 

"  I  don't  feel  like  doing  business  to-day,  my  boy," 

Sam  would  say;  "but  why  don't  you  give a  turn? 

His  place  is  only  a  stone's-throw  from  here,  and  I'm 
sure  you'll  find  him  reasonable." 

Sam,  of  course,  was  head  and  shoulders  above  all 
the  moneylenders  of  his  day.  There  is  an  aristocracy 
among  usurers  as  in  other  professions. 

The  old-fashioned  Shylock,  who  used  to  try  and 
get  his  unfortunate  clients  to  take  part  of  a  loan  in 
bad  sherry  or  indifferent  cigars,  might  justly  have 
been  placed  at  the  bottom  of  the  scale. 

I  remember  such  a  one — an  obese  Hebrew — who 
tried  to  dazzle  youthful  clients  by  flashing  about  a 
sham  gold  cigar-case,  ornamented  with  a  huge  mono- 
gram of  bogus  stones.  He  was  also  in  the  habit  of 
telling  them  that  though  he  never  ate  anything,  he 
kept  an  expensive  French  cook.  Why  he  should  have 
thought  this  detail  of  his  domestic  life  likely  to  impress 
would-be  borrowers  was  an  insoluble  mystery. 

This  kind  of  usurer  often  used  to  indulge  in  specious 
advertisements,  which  no  doubt  originated  the  circulars 
which  modern  moneylenders,  or  more  often  their  touts, 
shower  broadcast  to-day. 


272    FANCIES,  FASHIONS,   AND   FADS 

A  new  fad,  championed  by  Lord  Newton,  now 
seeks  to  make  the  sending  of  these  circulars  an 
offence.  It  is  regrettable  that  this  clever  peer,  who 
is  justly  regarded  as  a  most  valuable  asset  of  the 
Unionist  party,  should  have  fallen  a  victim  to  the 
modern  craze  for  unnecessary  legislation. 

Curbing  the  rapacity  of  moneylenders  on  the  old 
mediaeval  principle  of  occasionally  drawing  a  Shylock's 
teeth  is  no  doubt  a  very  salutary  thing,  but  attempting 
to  suppress  what,  after  all,  is  merely  a  nuisance  by 
legislation  is  surely  going  too  far. 

Only  a  few  years  ago  a  rather  sensible  Bill  dealing 
with  moneylending  became  law,  but,  though  a  good 
deal  was  expected  from  it,  I  fancy  it  had  little  effect. 

This,    of   course,    was   before    Lord    Newton    had 
.  begun    to   direct   his   energies    towards   safeguarding 
the  pockets  of  the  public  from  the  unscrupulous  in- 
roads of  the  bookmaker  and  the  usurer. 

One  of  his  pet  theories  seems  to  be  that,  if  people 
are  not  exposed  to  temptation  by  advertisement  or 
circular,  they  will  neither  bet  nor  borrow  money. 
Ever  alert  for  evidence  as  to  the  widespread  harm 
done  by  these  two  evils,  what  must  have  been  the 
excitement  when  some  poor  imbecile  usurer  sent  a 
circular  to  the  reforming  peer's  own  daughter !  Such 
a  shameless  piece  of  effrontery  naturally  called  for 
drastic  measures,  and  her  father  at  once  drafted  a 
Bill  to  smite  Shylock  hip  and  thigh. 

Of  one  thing  he  may  be  sure — whether  his  Bill 
eventually  passes  or  not,  it  will  have  little  or  no  effect. 
If  he  will  study  the  history  of  European  laws  against 


CENT   PER   CENT  273 

moneylending,  he  will  discover  that  the  only  result 
of  attempts  at  drastic  repression  of  moneylending  is 
an  increase  in  the  rate  of  interest  demanded  from 
borrowers. 

Legislation  has  always  proved  completely  im- 
potent in  preventing  impecunious  or  foolish  people 
from  being  entangled  in  the  tentacles  of  the  octopus 
of  cent  per  cent,  which,  in  the  nature  of  things,  is 
after  all  but  a  necessary  monster. 

I  say  necessary,  because,  in  spite  of  the  denuncia- 
tions of  Lord  Newton  and  of  bankers  (themselves 
merely  a  privileged  class  of  moneylender),  the  usurer 
is  an  unavoidable  product  of  civilization. 

Lord  Newton,  no  doubt,  having  plenty  of  money 
does  not  see  this,  but  there  are  many  who,  at  times, 
find  it  absolutely  essential  to  negotiate  a  loan,  even 
upon  what  may  appear  to  be  ruinous  terms. 

A  delay  of  twenty-four  hours  in  paying  a  large 
sum  may  mean  the  social  ruin  of  an  individual,  and 
under  such  circumstances  small  wonder  that  he 
should  be  only  too  pleased  to  pay  a  heavy  rate  of 
interest  for  an  immediate  loan. 

Moneylenders  are  abused  for  charging  a  heavy 
percentage — 25,  40,  60,  even  100  per  cent — for 
lending  their  money. 

Is  there  any  tradesman,  I  should  like  to  know, 
who  does  not  expect  to  make  just  as  high  a  profit 
on  his  goods? 

If  I  go  into  a  West  End  shop  and  buy  a  gold 
cigar-case,  the  seller  will  certainly  not  make  less 
than  30  per  cent  out  of  the  sale ;  why  should 


274    FANCIES,   FASHIONS,   AND   FADS 

money — the  most  precious  of  all  commodities — be 
sold  at  a  smaller  rate  of  profit  than  anything  else  ? 

The  agitation  against  moneylenders  has  been  over- 
done. Their  profession  exists  because  of  the  weak- 
ness and  fallibility  of  human  nature,  and  nothing  will 
seriously  affect  it. 

An  even  more  futile  and  meddlesome  fad  of  Lord 
Newton's  in  his  Anti-Betting  Bill.  He  does  not, 
of  course,  call  it  by  that  name,  nevertheless  it  best 
indicates  what  it  is  expected  to  effect. 

The  Betting  Inducements  Bill,  as  its  official  title 
runs,  did  not  receive  the  support  of  any  prominent 
patrons  of  the  Turf  in  the  House  of  Lords  ;  they  all 
(with  the  exception  of  Lord  Durham,  who  was  absent) 
voted  for  Lord  Derby's  amendment. 

Nor  does  there  appear  to  be  any  particular  enthu- 
siasm for  it  in  the  House  of  Commons.  Mr.  James 
Hogge,  M.P.  for  East  Edinburgh,  and  the  most 
fanatical  of  anti-gambling  faddists,  is  of  course  its 
warm  supporter ;  on  the  other  hand,  a  few  very 
advanced  Radicals,  much  to  their  credit,  are  going 
to  fight  it  tooth  and  nail. 

The  ostensible  object  of  this  latest  specimen  of 
faddist  legislation  is  to  prevent  the  "  writing,  printing, 
and  publishing  or  circulating  in  the  United  Kingdom 
of  any  advertisements  of  any  betting  or  tipster's 
business,"  nevertheless,  as  in  reality  it  is  merely  an 
attempt  to  prohibit  betting  amongst  the  poor,  the 
best  name  for  it  would  be  "  A  Bill  for  the  Restriction 
of  Betting  to  the  Wealthy  Classes." 

What  is  the  Stock  Exchange  but  a  huge  gaming- 


A   NOBLE   FADDIST  275 

house?  Indeed,  what  in  any  society  or  in  any  place 
is  the  pursuit  of  money,  unaccompanied  by  industry, 
but  trading  on  chances,  sheer  gambling  ? 

Lord  Newton,  in  short,  is  content  to  allow  the  rich 
to  speculate  and  gamble  to  their  hearts'  content,  and 
avowedly  limits  his  restrictive  efforts  to  the  poor, 
whom,  like  many  other  people  with  plenty  of  time  on 
their  hands,  he  thinks  capital  subjects  for  his  experi- 
mental legislation. 

I  am  informed  by  several  members  that  numbers 
of  their  working-class  constituents  are  bitterly 
opposed  to  Lord  Newton's  Bill,  which  has  also  been 
severely  criticized  by  the  sporting  Press. 

His  lordship,  however,  apparently  ignoring  the 
meaning  of  the  words  "  individual  liberty,"  seems 
genuinely  unable  to  understand  why  any  one  should 
be  opposed  to  his  proposals.  In  the  course  of  a 
speech  he  made  when  opening  a  new  Savings  Bank  at 
Stockport  in  August,  he  deplored  the  unfashionable- 
ness  of  thrift,  which  Parliament  did  not  encourage. 

In  the  past  Session  (he  added)  he  himself  had 
been  an  unsuccessful  worker  in  the  cause  of  thrift,  but 
his  betting  and  moneylenders  Bills,  which  were 
intended  to  protect  the  ignorant  and  the  credulous, 
had  caused  him  to  be  described  as  a  "most  abandoned 
person"  and  as  a  "socialist."  Though  one  cannot 
approve  of  the  former  at  least  of  these  two  terms 
being  applied  to  the  speaker,  it  is  pleasant  to  learn 
that  Lord  Newton  is  being  made  to  realize  how 
deeply  many  Englishmen  resent  his  attempted 
destruction  of  personal  liberty  by  legislation. 


276    FANCIES,   FASHIONS,   AND   FADS 

The  attitude  of  the  Nonconformist  conscience 
towards  betting  is,  with  all  its  narrowness  and  limita- 
tions, after  all,  perfectly  logical.  The  same  cannot 
be  said  of  this  new  form  of  Unionist  faddism.  How, 
for  instance,  can  Lord  Newton,  who  holds  such  strong 
views  as  to  the  evils  produced  by  betting,  justify  his 
position  in  remaining  in  a  party  which  runs  Mr.  Robert 
Sievier — a  perfectly  frank  and  self-confessed  gambler 
— as  official  candidate  for  Hoxton  ?  One  thing  I 
think  we  may  be  sure  of,  and  that  is,  that  the  proprietor 
of  the  Winning  Post,  who  is  certainly  not  a  humbug, 
should  he  get  into  the  House  of  Commons,  will 
stanchly  oppose  all  futile  and  meddlesome  inter- 
ference with  the  liberties  of  the  people. 

Be  this  as  it  may,  one  thing  is  certain  :  Lord 
Newton  may  frame  any  Bill  he  likes,  but  he  will 
never  check  betting  or  gambling.  Further,  if  he  and 
his  fellow-spoilsports  continue  to  indulge  in  making 
unnecessary  laws,  an  inevitable  reaction  against  being 
made  virtuous  by  Act  of  Parliament  is  sure  to  follow. 
Human  nature  is  too  strong  to  be  dragooned  into 
virtue,  and,  let  faddists  do  what  they  may,  the  people 
will  eventually  resent  the  dreariness  of  a  world  trans- 
formed into  a  reformatory  by  educational  philanthropists 
or  into  a  paradise  designed  by  prigs. 


DEMOCRACY 

YEAR  by  year  the  struggle  for  existence  grows 
keener,  the  population  greater,  and  life  more 
strenuous.  There  is  undoubtedly  more  com- 
fort and  luxury,  but  there  is  also  more  social  unrest. 

On  the  other  hand,  that  general  indifference  to  the 
wellbeing  and  habits  of  the  community  at  large  which 
characterized  our  ancestors  has  been  succeeded  by  an 
almost  frenzied  desire  to  improve  the  conditions  under 
which  the  people  live. 

We  have  got  rid  of  town  burial-grounds,  multiplied 
windows,  analysed  poisonous  victuals,  poured  down 
the  ears  of  the  multitude  streams  of  knowledge  about 
drains,  sewers,  fresh  air,  and  good  water,  and  generally 
attempted  to  teach  the  masses  to  live  in  accordance 
with  the  laws  by  which  men's  bodies  are  governed. 

If  good  drainage,  sanitary  reform,  and  laws  for  the 
regulation  of  everything  and  everybody  could  make 
humanity  happy,  the  inhabitants  of  our  great  cities 
ought  to  be  the  happiest  people  in  the  world. 

There  is,  however,  a  dark  side  to  the  picture.  To 
begin  with,  what  can  be  more  pitiable  than  the  condi- 
tion of  the  "genteel  poor,"  who  have  to  sacrifice  so 


278    FANCIES,   FASHIONS,   AND   FADS 

much  for  the  sake  of  keeping  up  appearances  ?  The 
terrible  strain  of  making  both  ends  meet  on  a  small 
fixed  salary  kills  the  soul  of  many  a  poor  clerk  or 
office  underling  with  a  wife  and  children  to  support. 
The  lot  of  such  a  man  is,  in  some  respects,  worse 
than  that  of  the  factory  operative,  for,  with  the  excep- 
tion of  a  brief  holiday,  he  passes  his  life  in  the  dull 
drab  work  of  making  money  for  others  to  spend. 
There  is  no  variety  or  excitement  except  domestic 
worries  in  his  existence  ;  one  morning  is  like  another, 
and  every  evening  he  reaches  home  so  tired  both 
mentally  and  bodily  that  he  cannot  be  expected  to 
take  interest  in  the  affairs  of  the  community  at  large. 
The  result  is  a  class,  the  majority  of  whom  are 
practically  indifferent  to  social,  political,  or  religious 
questions ;  utterly  tired  out  by  having  to  remain  in 
a  groove,  sleep  is  probably  the  only  real  relaxation 
they  enjoy.  Hope  is  crushed  out  of  them  with  the 
progress  of  years ;  indeed,  the  only  thing  the  older 
ones  have  to  look  forward  to  is  the  time  when  they 
can  go  to  sleep  for  ever. 

No  doubt  a  certain  number  of  clerks  do  contrive  to 
rise  to  better  positions,  but  the  overwork,  worry,  and 
meagre  salary  kill  initiative  and  imagination  in  the 
vast  majority,  who  become  mere  machines  for  register- 
ing and  supervising  the  increase  of  wealth,  such  a 
minute  portion  of  which  finds  its  way  into  their  poor 
shabby  pockets.  Their  lot  is  a  most  miserable  one, 
and  at  present  there  seems  little  prospect  of  its  being 
improved. 

The  condition  of  the  working  classes,  on  the  other 


FACTORIES  279 

hand,    has    undoubtedly    improved  ;    to    begin    with, 
their  hours  are  shorter  and  they  get  more  pay. 

If,  however,  their  wages  are  higher,  they  are  looked 
upon  more  as  mere  moneymaking  machines  than  they 
were  in  the  past. 

In  the  eighteenth  century  the  social  bonds  between 
master  and  man  were  promoted  by  many  things  which 
would  now  be  considered  out  of  date.  Employers 
and  workpeople,  both  in  town  and  country,  were  in 
close  touch.  Employe's  often  lived  with  their  master 
and  his  family,  while  in  the  farmhouses  it  was  quite 
usual  for  a  farmer  to  work  and  take  his  meals  with  his 
labourers.  Many  industries  were  carried  on  in  the 
people's  own  homes.  Machinery  put  an  end  to  all 
this.  Its  introduction  was  at  first  anything  but 
welcome.  It  would  almost  seem  as  if  the  working 
classes,  when  they  wrecked  new  labour-saving  inven- 
tions, had  some  kind  of  premonition  of  the  soul- 
crushing  factory  system  which  in  a  way  has  effectually 
enslaved  their  descendants.  Notwithstanding  this  the 
workers,  though  in  strict  justice  they  may  not  have 
received  quite  their  fair  share  of  the  increased 
commercial  prosperity  which  has  produced  so  many 
millionaires,  have  more  reason  to  be  satisfied  than 
other  classes  with  appearances  to  keep  up. 

The  present  factory  system  in  the  future  will 
probably  be  much  improved  and  humanized.  Progress 
in  the  storage  of  energy  and  the  perfection  of 
machinery  may  enable  a  great  output  to  be  produced 
with  a  very  moderate  amount  of  work. 

Nevertheless,  thoughtful    people,  while    reluctantly 


280    FANCIES,   FASHIONS,   AND   FADS 

recognizing  its  necessity,  must  always  regret  the 
days  when  even  the  simplest  necessities  of  life  were 
made  by  craftsmen,  many  of  whom  took  a  real  delight 
in  the  perfection  of  their  handiwork. 

If  factories  continue  to  exist — and  under  modern 
conditions,  and  as  far  as  we  can  see,  they  must  exist 
— I  do  not  for  a  moment  believe  that  posterity  will 
allow  enormous  profits  to  be  made  out  of  them  by  one 
man,  his  family,  or  by  a  group  of  shareholders, 
without  those  who  produce  the  wealth  having  a  larger 
share — the  factory  hand  will  receive  more  pay  and 
have  more  leisure,  by  which  means  his  class  will  be 
levelled  up.  Not  Socialism  but  Co-operation  will 
probably  bring  this  about. 

When  in  ancient  days  an  individual  accumulated  so 
much  wealth  or  land  that  he  seemed  likely,  owing  to 
his  power,  to  become  a  danger  to  the  State,  which  at 
that  time  really  meant  the  King,  his  wings  were  very 
soon  clipped. 

In  mediaeval  times  monarchs  were  found  to  load 
their  favourites  with  enormously  valuable  gifts,  but  the 
lavish  grants  of  the  Crown  were  checked  by  the  power 
of  resumption.  Most  of  the  vast  estates  seized  and 
retained  by  William  the  Conqueror  were  dissipated  by 
William  Rufus.  The  Crown  was  at  one  time  com- 
pelled to  resume  the  grants,  portions  of  its  ancient 
inheritance,  which  had  been  alienated  by  Edward  III 
and  Richard  II.  The  same  kind  of  thing  occurred  in 
the  reigns  of  Henry  VI  and  Henry  VII. 

No  one  ventures  to  dispute  that  this  power  of 
resumption  in  connexion  with  properties  and  land 


RESUMPTION  281 

on  the  whole  worked  out  for  the  benefit  of  the 
country. 

But  there  is  no  resumption  of  the  enormous  fortunes 
made  out  of  labour  by  modern  owners  of  capital. 
The  freedom  of  a  comparatively  few  to  make 
exaggerated  profits  at  the  expense  of  the  whole  com- 
munity is  practically  unchecked.  I  am  not,  of  course, 
denying  that  a  number  of  manufacturers  are  useful  to 
the  community  or  advocating  confiscation  ;  I  cannot, 
however,  help  thinking  that  the  day  will  come  when 
at  least  a  moderate  proportion  of  the  gigantic  fortunes 
made  out  of  factories  will  in  some  form  or  other  be 
allocated  for  the  benefit  either  of  those  who  spend 
their  whole  existence  in  them  or  for  the  general 
purposes  of  the  State. 

A  regular  scale  will,  I  believe,  be  adopted  for  every 
trade  and  profession,  setting  forth  the  minimum  pro- 
portion of  profit  which  must  be  paid  to  the  individuals 
who  produce  it. 

Though  in  many  things  strongly  opposed  to  what 
are  claimed  to  be  the  ideals  of  modern  democracy,  I 
can  never  understand  how  sensible  and  thoughtful 
people  can  be  surprised  at  the  efforts  of  the  worker  to 
obtain  better  wages  for  his  work. 

Self-preservation  is  the  first  law  of  nature,  and  he 
who  finds  himself  born  into  a  state  of  life  where  he  is 
obliged  to  slave  for  other  people  is  undoubtedly 
justified  in  seeking  to  improve  his  condition. 

Workmen,  and  even  labourers,  are  better  paid  than 
of  yore,  but  when  all  is  said  and  done,  the  fact 
remains  that  there  are  more  people  in  England  to-day 


282     FANCIES,   FASHIONS,   AND   FADS 

leading  wretched  and  poverty-stricken  lives  than  there 
were  a  hundred  years  ago.  The  objection  that, 
considering  the  great  increase  of  population,  the 
proportion  is  less,  is  a  mere  quibble.  If  there  had 
been  any  great  amount  of  real  progress,  poverty  and 
misery  would  have  been  reduced  to  a  minimum  ;  as  it 
is,  the  sum  of  human  suffering  stands  higher  than  it 
ever  stood  before.  Of  course  it  is  ridiculous  to  think 
(as  some  visionaries  like  to  do)  that  poverty  and 
misery  will  be  entirely  swept  away.  There  will 
always  be  poor  people  and  also  wretched  ones,  but 
under  a  proper  system  there  should  be  no  reason 
why  any  really  worthy  man,  woman,  or  child  should 
be  insufficiently  fed  or  clothed  or  lack  a  decent  roof 
over  their  heads.  On  the  other  hand,  the  utterly 
worthless — Nature's  mistakes — after  being  given 
several  fair  chances,  will  be  segregated  under  special 
discipline  suited  to  their  needs. 

The  only  true  remedy  for  social  ills,  though  many 
dispute  it,  is  education. 

I  do  not  mean  what  usually  passes  for  it,  but  real 
practical  training  devised  to  meet  the  needs  of 
various  types. 

At  present  children  of  widely  differing  mental 
capacity  are  all  lumped  into  the  same  educational 
boat.  Under  a  proper  system  only  those  showing 
signs  of  real  intelligence  would  be  taught  advanced 
subjects,  and  thus  much  energy,  ability,  and  time  would 
be  saved  to  overworked  teachers. 

Self-improvement  is  not  a  mere  empty  sound ; 
the  reward  in  some  shape  or  other  must  be  satis- 


NATIONAL   NON-EDUCATION       283 

factory.  The  humblest  ranks  have  their  heroes  as 
well  as  the  titled  and  noble.  Knowledge  will  obey 
the  call  made  upon  her,  whether  it  be  by  rich  or 
poor. 

But  knowledge  cannot  be  induced  by  mere 
cramming. 

Plato  observed  that  the  minds  of  children  were 
like  bottles  with  very  narrow  mouths — if  you 
attempted  to  fill  them  too  rapidly  much  knowledge 
was  wasted  and  little  received,  whereas,  with  a  small 
stream,  they  were  easily  filled.  Those  who  would 
make  young  children  prodigies  act  as  wisely  as  if 
they  would  pour  a  pail  of  water  into  a  pint 
measure. 

The  whole  of  our  system  of  national  education, 
which  is  really  the  most  important  thing  of  all,  needs 
careful  revision. 

After  all,  as  Schopenhauer  said,  you  can  teach  a 
child  to  worship  anything — even  a  teapot.  Why 
should  we  not  be  able  to  teach  the  children  of  Eng- 
land to  worship  the  ideal  of  good  citizenship,  efficiency, 
and  general  knowledge  ? 

Socialism,  whether  Revolutionary  or  Fabian,  ad- 
mirable as  are  a  number  of  its  aims,  will  probably 
never  effect  any  serious  amelioration  of  the  present 
really  miserable  state  of  affairs. 

A  body  of  strong,  powerful,  ruthless,  matter-of-fact 
but  highly  intelligent  men,  on  the  other  hand,  might 
do  it,  and  in  spite  of  my  own  mental  bent,  which 
inclines  me  to  believe  that  the  future  of  the  world 
will  be  something  of  the  kind  pictured  in  the  pessi- 


284     FANCIES,    FASHIONS,   AND   FADS 

mistic  "1'Ile  des  Penguins"  of  Anatole  France,  I 
believe  that  some  day  they  will. 

In  the  accomplishment  of  such  a  great  purpose, 
much  top-hamper  in  the  shape  of  traditional  ideas, 
now  very  dear  to  many,  will  have  to  be  swept  away. 
Much  which  now  influences  our  lives  and  thoughts, 
born  of  ecclesiastical  influence  and  the  dead  hand  of 
medisevalism,  will  have  to  go. 

The  real  democracy  of  the  future — which  it  is  to 
be  hoped  will  in  reality  be  an  aristocracy  of  intelli- 
gence, intellect,  and  common  sense  drawn  from  all 
classes — will  probably  discard  many  shibboleths  dear 
to  so-called  democratic  leaders  of  to-day.  My  im- 
pression is  that  in  the  far  future  we  shall  go  back 
to  some  modification  of  the  old  slave  system,  in 
which  worthless  people  will  be  obliged  to  work  for 
those  of  higher  mental  development.  Also  I  am 
convinced  that,  in  the  ages  to  come,  population  will 
be  very  strictly  limited.  To  my  mind  there  is 
nothing  so  symptomatic  of  the  collective  idiocy  of 
humanity  than  the  congratulations  which  follow  upon 
any  announcement  of  some  town  having  doubled 
its  population  since  the  last  century,  or  the  laments 
over  the  failure  of  the  French  to  multiply  themselves 
with  indecent  speed. 

The  only  real  reason  for  desiring  an  enormous 
population  is  a  secret  wish  to  be  able  to  browbeat  or 
overpower  some  other  nation,  and,  with  the  alteration 
in  modern  ways  of  fighting,  it  is  becoming  doubtful 
whether  even  this  will  remain  a  good  reason.  With 
changed  methods  of  fighting,  numbers  do  not  tell  as 
they  did  in  old  days. 


MILLIONS   OF   WEAKLINGS         285 

The  population  of  a  country,  strictly  speaking, 
according  to  the  decrees  of  Nature  (which  the  modern 
world  thinks  of  small  importance),  should  be  limited 
to  its  natural  food  supply.  England,  I  believe,  is  at 
most  able  to  support  some  twenty  millions.  The 
number  of  inhabitants  at  present  is  a  good  deal  more 
than  double  that  figure,  but,  of  course,  allowance  must 
be  made  for  emigration  and  wastage.  At  present 
thousands  have  to  live  upon  preserved  foods  and  the 
like,  which  probably  have  a  tendency  to  weaken  the 
national  stamina.  The  true  race-suicide  is  the  multi- 
plication of  feeble  individuals.  A  dozen  men  of 
strong  constitution  are  worth  fifty  weaklings. 

The  objection  that  limiting  the  population  is  con- 
trary to  Nature  cannot  seriously  be  sustained — the 
ants  limit  the  size  of  their  communities  in  accordance 
with  their  food  supply. 

Ecclesiastics,  of  course,  are  always  urging  the 
populace  to  marry  early  and  have  large  families. 
This,  no  doubt,  was  an  excellent  thing  for  the 
nomadic  Jews  of  the  Bible,  roaming  about  with  their 
flocks  and  herds,  with  huge  tracts  of  country  to  wander 
over,  but  for  the  modern  town-dweller  it  generally 
means  the  annihilation  of  all  comfort,  decency,  and 
health — I  will  not  add  culture ;  a  man  and  woman 
living  with  a  large  family  in  poverty  in  a  slum  cannot 
of  necessity,  except  in  very  rare  cases,  be  expected  to 
rise  much  above  the  level  of  their  ancestors  of  a 
primaeval  age. 

This  partiality  of  the  Church  for  a  high  birth-rate, 
undoubtedly  the  main  cause  of  enormous  misery  and 


286     FANCIES,   FASHIONS,   AND   FADS 

poverty,  must  alienate  many  who  attach  less  im- 
portance to  mere  traditional  superstition  than  to 
ordinary  common  sense.  The  newly  developed 
habit  of  calling  for  legislation  against  immorality, 
which  the  Church  confesses  itself  impotent  to  check, 
is  another  cause  which,  if  carried  to  an  extreme,  will 
further  weaken  its  prestige.  The  principal  exponent 
of  this  new  school  of  Churchmen  is  the  Bishop  of 
London,  a  good  and  sincere  man,  capable  of  exhibiting 
an  almost  savage  ferocity  as  regards  the  moral  lapses 
of  men. 

His  ruthlessness  towards  illicit  love  in  some  respects 
resembles  that  of  the  austere  priest  in  Zola's  charming 
and  poetic  "  La  Faute  de  1'Abbe  Mouret." 

No  better  picture  of  certain  dehumanizing  effects 
of  celibacy  has  ever  been  drawn  than  this. 

Over-population  is,  undoubtedly,  the  main  cause  of 
all  the  misery  which  produces  Revolutionary  Socialism, 
many  apostles  of  which,  paradoxically  enough,  become 
dangerous  fanatics,  owing  to  their  sensitive  natures 
and  goodness  of  heart,  which  cannot  bear  the  con- 
templation of  so  much  apparently  needless  suffering. 

From  a  merely  selfish  point  of  view  the  well-to-do 
classes,  which  themselves  have  of  late  begun  to 
manifest  a  partiality  for  small  families,  should  realize 
the  danger  which  looms  ahead. 

A  single  snowflake — who  cares  for  it  ?  But  an 
unlimited  mass  of  snowflakes — obliterating  the  land- 
marks, drifting  over  the  doors,  gathering  upon  the 
mountains  to  crash  in  avalanches — who  does  not 
care  for  that  ? 


FALLACIOUS   FORECASTS  287 

Is  it  not  better  to  face  facts  as  they  are,  and  thus 
pave  the  way  for  avoiding  the  crash,  than  to  com- 
placently say,  "  Well,  after  all,  nothing  very  much 
will  happen  in  my  time ! " 

When  discussing  this  question  people  usually 
argue  that  "disease  or  war  will  keep  the  population 
down  if  it  grows  inconveniently  big,"  This  is  "the 
everything  comes  right  in  the  end,  don't  you  know  " 
attitude.  War,  though  sometimes  sport  to  the  rich, 
it  is  true,  has  always  been  death  to  the  poor,  but 
though  it  on  occasion  undoubtedly  develops  splendid 
and  virile  qualities,  it  can  scarcely  be  relied  upon 
as  an  ideal  instrument  of  progress. 

Disease,  with  all  its  mental  and  physical  torture, 
is  an  avowed  curse  of  human  existence  which  every 
one,  without  exception,  would  like  to  see  mitigated  to 
the  greatest  possible  extent. 

Nevertheless,  we  are  bidden  to  cheerfully  look  to 
these  two  curses  to  control  the  future  of  the  human 
race. 

Another  and  more  thoughtful  school  of  sociologists 
pins  its  faith  to  democracy,  by  which  it  means  various 
ideas  and  nostrums  thrust  upon  the  proletariat  by 
rather  clever  faddists  drawn  from  an  entirely  different 
class. 

As  a  matter  of  fact,  it  seems  to  me  very  doubtful 
if  the  present  brand  of  democracy,  as  it  is  understood 
to-day,  will  count  for  anything  in  the  future. 

Much  was  expected  from  the  extension  of  the 
franchise  by  ardent  Radicals  of  a  past  generation 
which  relied  too  much  upon  representative  govern- 


288    FANCIES,   FASHIONS,   AND   FADS 

ment.  In  reality,  the  form  of  a  government  is  of 
little  importance — the  essential  thing  is  that  it  should 
govern  well. 

Up  to  the  present  time  democracy  has  settled  nothing. 
With  its  rise  to  power,  the  House  of  Commons,  how- 
ever, has  lost  much  of  its  prestige,  while  many 
sensible  people  openly  declare  their  disgust  with  so- 
called  representative  institutions.  It  must,  however, 
be  remembered  that  what  we  call  "  democracy  "  is, 
after  all,  of  but  quite  recent  origin — a  thing  of  yester- 
day, indeed,  born  of  the  great  French  Revolution  and 
the  weakness  of  Louis  XVI.  Contrary  to  current 
opinion,  the  collective  judgment  of  the  masses  is  far 
from  being  infallible — they  have  so  little  time  to  think. 
Why  any  sane  people  should  imagine  that  a  number 
of  fools  should  produce  more  wisdom  than  a  selected 
few,  except  if  it  be  granted  that  one  fool  counteracts 
another,  I  have  never  been  able  to  understand. 

We  have  got  to  look  at  the  world  not  as  we  would 
wish  it  to  be,  but  as  it  is.  It  has  always  abounded 
with  idiots  too  dull  to  be  employed  and  knaves  too 
sharp  to  be  trusted.  It  is  absurd  to  pretend  that  the 
masses  are  an  exception  to  this  rule.  They  are  no 
better  and  no  worse  than  the  classes  above  them,  but 
the  conditions  of  their  existence  are  unfavourable  to 
culture  and  thought ;  they  are  therefore  easily  led  by 
the  nose,  and  have  few  independent  opinions  about 
anything,  except  the  pressing  necessity  not  to 
starve. 

The  aristocratic  system  of  government  in  the  past 
at  least  assured  the  ease  and  happiness  of  a  certain 


AN   UNATTAINABLE    IDEAL        289 

amount  of  privileged  and  fortunate  individuals  ; 
undoubtedly,  it  also  greatly  promoted  art. 

The  democratic  system  of  the  future,  if  it  develops 
on  the  lines  laid  down  by  its  leaders  of  to-day,  bids 
fair  to  produce  nothing  but  general  mediocrity.  The 
claim  that  reducing  every  one  to  the  same  level — 
levelling  down,  not  up — will  produce  universal  happi- 
ness would  be  pathetic  were  it  not  so  absurd. 

Universal  happiness  is  a  consummation  which 
cannot  happen  unless  the  entire  nature  of  things  is 
changed.  When  romantic  generosity  shall  be  as 
common  as  gross  selfishness  ;  when  love  of  power 
shall  no  longer  goad  men  on  to  restless  action ; 
when  passion  and  will,  hope  and  fear,  love  and 
hatred,  good  and  evil,  shall  no  longer  sway  the 
hearts  and  heads  of  men — then,  and  then  only,  can 
such  a  forecast  be  realized. 

If,  however,  universal  happiness  on  earth  is  an 
unattainable  ideal,  a  great  and  general  improvement 
in  the  conditions  of  human  existence  is  more  than 
probable.  We  stand  now  as  regards  posterity  much 
as  the  cave  man  in  his  time  stood  to  us.  In  the  days 
when  man,  a  rude,  semi-savage,  wandered  through 
the  primeval  forests,  a  visitor  from  another  world 
would  never  have  anticipated  the  civilization  of  to- 
day, imperfect  and  faulty  though  it  be ! 

Accordingly,  looking  forward  over  the  gulf  of 
coming  centuries  towards  the  unborn,  generations  of 
the  remote  future,  we  may  fairly  anticipate  that  they 
will  have  solved  many  pressing  and  essential  problems 
of  to-day.  If  to  us  the  conditions  of  life  entail  much 


290     FANCIES,   FASHIONS,   AND   FADS 

sorrow,  much  suffering,  and  much  needless  injustice, 
with  but  a  small  dole  of  pleasure,  it  is  at  least  some 
compensation  to  think  that  humanity  in  the  future  will 
move  in  a  brighter,  better-adjusted,  and  more  cultured 
world  than  that  which  witnessed  the  struggles  of  its 
ancestors  towards  the  light. 

Religion,  were  it  to  become  broadminded  and 
tolerant,  might  greatly  assist  progress  ;  unfortunately 
the  reluctance  of  its  teachers  to  moderate  the  rigidity 
of  their  tenets  rather  tends  to  minimize  its  influence 
among  the  masses.  As  John  Bright  once  said,  "  The 
working  people  of  the  country  do  not  care  any  more 
for  the  dogmas  of  Christianity  than  the  upper  classes 
care  for  the  practise  of  it." 

Sentimentalism  is  another  barrier  in  the  way  of  real 
civilization — we  lack  that  robust  spirit  which  prompted 
Charles  Kingsley  to  write  : 

"Welcome,  brave  North-easter,  shame  it  is  to  see 
Odes  to  every  zephyr,  not  a  line  to  thee." 

Signs  of  a  reaction  against  sloppy  sentimentalism 
are  not  wanting ;  in  this  direction,  no  one  has  done 
better  service  than  Mr.  Charles  Whibley  with  his 
admirable  "  Letters  of  an  Englishman." 

It  is  a  pity  that  more  clever  public  men  do  not 
cultivate  a  reputation  for  being  stanch  upholders  of 
law,  order,  and  the  defence  of  property. 

The  modern  attitude  towards  disorder,  and  even 
towards  crime,  is  perhaps  one  of  the  most  disquieting 
symptoms  of  the  times.  Any  one  who  pleads  that  he 
has  a  social  or  a  political  grievance  seems  to  become, 


THE   PROLETARIAT  291 

in  a  way,  a  privileged,  lawbreaker,  and  self-seeking 
agitators  who  make  incendiary  speeches  are  far  too 
leniently  treated. 

One  of  the  great  curses  connected  with  so-called 
government  of  the  people  by  the  people  is  that  it 
invariably  produces  a  greater  number  of  charlatans 
and  swindlers  than  the  worst  forms  of  autocracy.  In 
the  heat  and  frenzy  of  the  French  Revolution  the 
sordid  struggle  for  place  and  power  never  sustained 
the  smallest  diminution ;  appointments  and  offices 
were  never  pursued  with  more  eagerness  and  intrigue 
than  when  the  heads  of  those  who  gained  them  sat 
loosely  on  their  shoulders,  held  on,  as  it  were,  merely  by 
pieces  of  sticking-plaster.  Demagogues  sprang  up  like 
mushrooms,  and  the  crop  seemed  to  be  fecundated 
by  blood.  Heads  fell  in  all  directions.  It  repeatedly 
happened  that  the  guillotine  finished  off  an  individual 
newly  risen  to  fame  before  the  artist  who  had  been 
commissioned  to  prepare  a  bust  had  finished  his 
work.  Frequently  the  original  was  dead  before  the 
plaster  was  dry. 

The  proletariat  itself  cannot  govern,  for,  owing  to 
the  struggle  for  existence,  the  workers  cannot  find 
time  to  reason  out  the  many  complicated  problems 
connected  with  law-making  and  the  like.  Blandilo- 
quent  agitators  with  a  glib  tongue  apt  at  flattery 
naturally  come  to  the  front  together  with  a  certain 
number  of  rather  clever  faddists  full  of  totally 
erroneous  ideas  as  to  the  aspirations  and  needs  of 
the  class  which  they  claim  to  represent.  These 
faddists,  though  generally  perfectly  sincere,  are  even 


292     FANCIES,   FASHIONS,   AND   FADS 

more  dangerous  than  the  self-seeking  representatives 
of  the  people  (humanity  swindlers,  Bismarck  called 
them)  who  make  a  living  by  stirring  up  class  against 
class. 

Sentimentalists  in  a  position  of  power  are  rarely 
able  to  form  very  just  estimates  either  of  others  or 
of  themselves.  Their  knowledge  of  themselves  is 
obscured  by  egotism  and  pride  in  their  fancied  mission 
to  the  world ;  their  knowledge  of  others  is  equally 
clouded  by  lack  of  knowledge  of  human  nature. 

Such  men  often  live  in  a  land  of  dreams,  believing 
that  the  selfishness  and  stupidity,  the  deformities  and 
disasters  of  humanity  of  the  present  can  be  easily 
rectified  by  gentleness  and  remonstrance.  Not  a  few 
often  profess  unbounded  sympathy  for  every  one  in 
general  and  criminals  and  malefactors  in  particular. 

At  heart  the  masses,  though  they  allow  both  these 
types  of  men  to  pose  as  their  representatives,  do  not, 
I  believe,  repose  any  real  faith  in  their  honeyed  words 
and  abundant  promises. 

Humanity  has  ever  loved  and  will  ever  love  a 
strong  man,  and  were  he  to  arise  the  whole  country 
would  be  at  his  feet. 

What  is  wanted  is  a  figure  like  Cromwell,  "  whose 
rule  was  to  seek  out  men  for  places,  not  places  for 
men." 

He  had  faith  in  his  mission,  and  endeavoured  to 
fulfil  it  to  the  utmost  of  his  ability.  Cromwell  was 
indeed  that  rarest  of  men,  an  honest  politician.  His 
soul  was  too  mighty  to  need  a  cloak,  and  there  is  no 
evidence  he  was  ever  actuated  by  ulterior  motives. 


CROMWELL  293 

From  the  point  of  view  of  the  party  which  he 
represented  he  was  scrupulously  fair  to  Charles  I, 
whose  death  he  conscientiously  considered  necessary 
for  the  honour  and  salvation  of  England.  By  this 
act  he  deliberately  exposed  himself  to  the  resentment 
of  quite  half  the  kingdom,  and  that  fact  ought  to 
weigh  heavily  against  any  supposition  that  he  was 
actuated  by  merely  sordid  motives. 

Nevertheless,  it  is  noteworthy  how  little  the  mob 
appreciated  all  that  Cromwell  had  done  for  England. 
After  the  Restoration,  it  was  dangerous  to  express 
any  sentiments  favourable  to  the  regime  which  had 
just  passed  away.  The  country  at  that  time  re- 
pudiated virtually  every  act  of  Cromwell  and  his 
associates,  and  in  all  legal  documents  the  existence 
of  the  Commonwealth  was  sternly  ignored.  The  super- 
stitious discerned  the  finger  of  Providence  in  the 
unhappy  lives  of  most  of  the  regicides,  and  the 
infamous  ends  of  several  of  them — even  the  glorious 
Milton,  who  entreated  Cromwell  to  spare  the  King's 
life,  narrowly  escaped  being  hanged  at  Tyburn.  A 
somewhat  parallel  instance  in  later  times  was  the 
ill-fortune  which  seemed  to  attach  itself  to  so  many 
of  those  who  were  mainly  instrumental  in  bringing 
Louis  XVI  to  the  guillotine.  There  is,  however, 
little  analogy  between  the  two  revolutions.  The  bulk 
of  the  French  people  thirsted  for  the  blood  of  their 
monarch  and  rejoiced  at  his  downfall.  The  great 
majority  of  the  English  nation  was  opposed  to  the 
dethronement,  much  more  to  the  execution,  of  Charles, 
and  bitterly  mourned  his  untimely  end,  which  even 


294    FANCIES,   FASHIONS,   AND   FADS 

some  of  his  most  bitter  enemies  deplored  as  a 
lamentable  necessity. 

The  Great  Revolution  of  1789  had  nothing  in 
common  with  the  struggle  between  Cavalier  and 
Roundhead.  In  the  first-named  social  upheaval  it 
was  the  common  people  against  the  aristocracy — in 
the  second  the  gentry  of  England  were  fairly  dis- 
tributed on  both  sides — indeed,  the  proletariat,  except 
for  probably  suffering  a  good  deal  of  inconvenience 
and  rough  treatment  at  the  hands  of  both  armies,  were 
little  concerned. 

The  English  aristocracy,  as  should  be  remembered 
to  their  credit,  never  oppressed  those  in  a  humble 
position  of  life  as  did  the  noblesse  across  the  Channel. 

Considerate  treatment  of  social  inferiors  in  perhaps 
a  primitive  form  existed  in  England  even  during  the 
Middle  Ages.  After  a  battle,  as  Philip  de  Comminges 
noted,  the  English  knights  cried,  "  Kill  the  nobles, 
but  save  the  men-at-arms  ; "  abroad  it  was,  "  Save 
the  nobles,  but  kill  the  common  soldiers." 

The  English  nobility  of  those  far-off  days  practised 
none  of  the  brutalities  which  French  seigneurs  con- 
sidered as  part  of  their  rights.  Property  was  re- 
spected except  after  the  Reformation,  when  the 
monasteries  were  broken  up. 

No  doubt  the  nobility  then  managed  to  grab  a 
vast  quantity  of  Church  lands,  but  I  do  not  see  why 
modern  Radicalism  should  urge  that  as  a  legitimate 
reason  for  pillaging  the  aristocracy  of  to-day.  Two 
wrongs  never  yet  made  a  right ;  besides,  it  is  doubtful 
whether  it  was  not  more  advantageous  for  the  people 


GRAB  295 

at  large  that  the  vast  estates  accumulated  by  monks 
should  pass  into  the  hands  of  a  nobility  which,  at 
all  events,  was  likely  to  make  a  better  use  of  them 
than  the  monks  had  done — the  opposition  to  the 
breaking  up  of  the  monasteries  was  not  serious. 

The  monks,  though  we  surround  them  with  a  halo 
born  of  picturesque  ruins,  old  fishponds,  green  lawns, 
and  peaceful  old  gardens,  were  not  popular,  also  they 
were  often  rapacious.  At  one  time  or  another  they 
must  have  owned  a  very  large  proportion  of  all  the 
land  in  England.  They  were  notorious  grabbers, 
which  was  the  reason  that  the  populace  were  rather 
pleased  than  otherwise  when  the  nobility  grabbed 
in  their  turn.  About  the  only  individual  indeed, 
other  than  the  monks,  whom  this  last  process  of 
grabbing  seems  to  have  upset  is  Mr.  Lloyd  George, 
who  is  never  tired  of  alluding  to  the  appropriation  of 
Church  lands  by  the  wicked  aristocracy. 

In  toleration  of  religions,  or  the  lack  of  them, 
England,  to  her  honour,  has  always  been  ahead  of 
other  nations,  and  if  the  monks  had  deserved  to 
remain  the  country  would  not  have  tolerated  their 
expulsion. 

In  the  days  when  the  Roman  Church  claimed  to 
rule  in  every  hamlet  in  the  country,  she  inspired  a 
deep  resentment,  which  generations  later  caused  an 
enthusiastic  welcome  to  be  accorded  to  the  Hugue- 
nots, whom  the  insensate  policy  of  Louis  XIV, 
prompted  by  the  Jesuits  and  old  Madame  de  Main- 
tenon,  drove  out  of  France. 

No    finer   stock   of   men    than    those    earnest   and 


29(5     FANCIES,   FASHIONS,   AND   FADS 

sincere  fighters  against  persecution  ever  existed,  and 
it  is  pleasant  to  see  that  their  strenuous  and  gallant 
efforts  were  not  all  in  vain.  All  over  Europe  their 
descendants  have  done  much  for  the  cause  of  true 
liberty  and  true  progress.  We  have  only  to  glance 
at  the  history  of  our  manufactures  to  see  how 
enormously  these  French  exiles  benefited  England. 
This  is  not  the  place  to  deal  with  technical  matters, 
but  indirectly  a  large  number  of  modern  conveniences 
and  inventions  are  the  outcome  of  Huguenot  brains. 

As  soldiers,  the  descendants  of  the  brave  French 
Protestants  are  still  unrivalled  :  witness  the  Boers  and 
many  gallant  English  soldiers.  The  military  history 
of  numbers  of  Huguenot  families  is  glorious  in  the 
extreme,  and  in  this  age  of  monuments  and  of  the 
entente  cordiale  it  seems  a  pity  that,  somewhere  on 
the  cliffs  facing  France,  there  should  not  be  erected 
a  memorial  giving  the  names  of  the  many  gallant 
men  of  French  descent  who  have  given  their  lives 
for  the  country  which  sheltered  their  fofefathers 
in  the  dark  days  of  bigotry  and  persecution. 

Personally,  I  have  such  an  intense  admiration  for 
the  Huguenots  that  I  at  once  feel  interested  when- 
ever I  meet  any  one  coming  of  that  stock.  I  believe 
if  a  complete  record  could  be  found,  it  would  be  dis- 
covered that  a  very  large  proportion  of  those  who 
have  contributed  to  modern  civilization  and  progress 
are  of  Huguenot  descent ;  besides  this,  as  a  rule,  no 
matter  what  position  in  life  they  occupy,  they  are 
generally  real  gentlemen  at  heart — the  Boers,  in  spite 
of  their  uncouth  ways,  are  described  as  having  a 


THE    HUGUENOTS  297 

certain  innate  dignity,  which,  considering  their  up- 
bringing and  surroundings,  is  only  to  be  explained 
by  their  French  ancestry. 

It  is  curious  to  speculate  as  to  how  France  would 
have  developed  had  Roman  Catholicism  never  been 
its  State  religion.  At  one  time  such  a  state  of  affairs 
was  not  entirely  without  the  bounds  of  possibility,  for 
it  is  said  that  almost  one-third  of  the  population 
belonged  or  were  favourably  inclined  to  the  faith 
which  Henri  IV  abandoned. 

"Paris  vaut  bien  une  messe,"  said  he;  and  no 
doubt,  in  addition  to  personal  considerations  of  great 
weight,  there  were  many  other  reasons  for  ending 
the  fratricidal  struggles  which  distracted  his  country. 
At  the  same  time  a  Protestant  France  would  have 
been  far  more  formidable  from  every  point  of  view. 
As  it  was,  Roman  Catholicism  triumphed  for  a  while, 
but  the  result  to-day  is  that  modern  France  is 
practically  an  agnostic  nation  which  regards  clerical- 
ism as  a  relic  of  an  unenlightened  age. 

Napoleon  at  one  time  hesitated  as  to  what  form 
of  religion  he  should  impose  upon  the  French.  His 
decision  to  revive  Roman  Catholicism  was  based 
upon  the  conviction  that  it  was  the  most  likely  to 
ensure  the  continuance  of  the  Imperial  regime. 

The  persecution  of  the  Huguenots  is  yet  vaguely 
remembered  by  the  French  proletariat ;  how  else 
can  the  complacent  acceptance  of  the  law  abolishing 
the  monasteries  be  accounted  for?  Even  in  the 
district  where  was  situated  the  Grande  Chartreuse, 
most  of  the  monks  of  which  were  retired  military 


298    FANCIES,   FASHIONS,   AND   FADS 

men  who  spent  their  lives  in  doing  good,  the 
Deputies  who  voted  for  the  expulsion  were  after- 
wards returned  by  enormous  majorities  ;  this  must 
have  been  almost  purely  atavistic  hatred  of  the 
Roman  Church,  for  nothing  could  have  been  more 
beneficial  to  the  interests  of  the  countryside  than 
the  famous  clerical  manufactory  of  chartreuse,  the 
receipt  for  which  was  originally  given  to  the  Car- 
thusians in  the  seventeenth  century  by  the  Marechal 
d'Estr^es. 

In  connexion  with  this  expulsion,  all  sorts  of 
reports  were  circulated  to  arouse  public  feeling  against 
the  monks.  The  most  absurd  of  these  was  the  gross 
libel  that  they  promoted  intemperance  by  the  distri- 
bution of  their  famous  liqueur ! 

The  real  truth  was  that  they  very  rightly  allowed 
their  workpeople  to  have  one  glass  of  chartreuse  a 
day  if  they  cared  to  do  so.  Many  other  similar 
libels  were  current,  but  in  all  probability  none  of 
them  much  influenced  the  electorate,  who  were  quite 
determined  to  make  an  end  of  monastic  institutions. 
The  monks  of  the  Grande  Chartreuse  had  been 
expelled  once  before.  Will  they  ever  return  ?  At 
present  it  seems  unlikely,  but  monks  have  a  curious 
way  of  slipping  back  to  their  old  resting-places,  and 
anything  is  possible  in  France. 

The  French  Government,  I  believe,  mindful  of 
the  homing  tendencies  of  religious  congregations, 
have  drafted  all  sorts  of  drastic  ordinances  designed 
to  prevent  such  a  return.  No  Englishman  (prob- 
ably no  foreigner),  I  believe,  is  allowed  to  purchase 


RETROSPECTION  299 

any  of  the  buildings  which  have  been  confiscated  by 
the  State,  and  even  a  French  purchaser  has  to  give  a 
guarantee  that  he  will  not  allow  or  connive  at  such 
buildings  being  devoted  to  any  but  purely  secular 
purposes. 

In  England  there  are  many  legends  of  ill-luck 
attached  to  old  country  houses  standing  on  the  site 
of  monasteries,  and  in  a  minor  degree  the  same 
tradition  seems  arising  as  to  confiscated  French 
monastic  property  to-day.  A  large  hotel  on  the 
site  of  a  monastery  near  Paris,  I  was  told,  has  been 
singularly  unfortunate,  and  all  sorts  of  superstitions 
as  to  old  convents  which  have  been  put  to  secular 
uses  prevail. 

There  are  certainly  quite  a  curious  number  of  tragic 
incidents  connected  with  places  like  Newstead  Abbey, 
Cowdray,  Coldham  Hall,  and  many  other  buildings. 
The  ground  on  which  the  Carlton  Hotel  stands,  it  is 
said,  was,  up  till  recently,  under  a  curse  owing  to  out- 
rages committed  upon  a  religious  community  in  a  long- 
past  age.  When,  however,  the  present  Carlton  Hotel 
Company  was  formed,  one  of  the  directors,  being  a 
pious  Catholic,  by  means  of  a  diplomatic  intermediary, 
got  the  Catholic  authorities  to  remove  the  curse,  with, 
I  believe,  benefit  to  the  dividends. 

*#=**# 

During  the  eighteenth  century,  though  the  working 
classes  showed  some  slight  symptoms  of  awakening 
from  political  sleep,  there  was  little  social  unrest. 
The  people  being  for  the  most  part  totally  uneducated 
had,  of  course,  no  share  in  the  government.  To 


300    FANCIES,   FASHIONS,   AND   FADS 

most  people  at  the  present  this  seems  wrong  and 
unjust,  but  it  must  be  remembered  that  owing  to 
various  causes — lack  of  communications,  of  training 
colleges,  and  many  other  institutions — popular  educa- 
tion as  we  see  it  to-day  would  then  have  been  an 
impossibility.  On  the  other  hand,  to  have  allowed 
the  illiterate  labourers,  artisans,  and  workmen  of  that 
day  to  vote  would  have  been  madness  in  its  most 
virulent  form. 

The  consequence  was  that  members  of  the  House 
of  Commons  were  for  the  most  part  the  nominees  of 
great  nobles,  wealthy  landowners,  and  people  with  a 
large  stake  in  the  country.  In  theory  this  system  was 
indefensible,  but  in  practice  it  did  not  work  out  ill. 

The  third  Earl  of  Darlington,  afterwards  Marquis 
of  Cleveland,  though  a  wise  and  statesmanlike  peer  of 
very  liberal  views,  when  taunted  with  being  a  borough- 
monger,  freely  owned  that  he  had  purposely,  at  great 
expense,  obtained  the  control  of  his  boroughs  because 
such  property  was  so  often  used  for  improper  purposes, 
and  there  was  no  other  mode  of  counteracting  those 
who  thus  used  it. 

A  certain  Lord  Lonsdale  reduced  boroughmonger- 
ing  to  a  science.  He  held  some  property  in  the  little 
rotten  borough  of  ftaslemere,  now  disfranchised,  and 
in  order  to  return  its  two  members  he  actually  im- 
ported into  it  forty  Cumberland  colliers  who  were 
provided  with  cottages  and  were  paid  half  a  guinea  a 
week  each  for  twenty  years,  in  return  for  which  they 
only  had  to  record  their  votes  for  two  of  the  Earl's 
nominees,  who  each  drew  some  thousands  annually  of 


LIGHT   AND   AIR  301 

public  money.  This  same  Lord  Lonsdale  at  one  time 
returned  the  two  members  for  Cumberland,  but  at  one 
election  the  Duke  of  Portland  started  an  opposition 
candidate.  The  result  was  that  the  two  noblemen 
spent  between  them  no  less  than  ;£  100,000  in  the 
contest,  and  would  no  doubt  have  spent  a  good  deal 
more.  Happily  for  their  pockets,  however,  they 
agreed  to  save  their  money  in  the  future  by  each 
nominating  one  member.  Altogether  Lord  Lonsdale 
managed  to  return  no  less  than  nine  members  to  the 
House  of  Commons,  where  they  were  known  as 
41  Lord  Lonsdale's  people." 

All  this  sounds  very  shocking  to  modern  ears  ;  but 
it  may  be  asked,  considering  that  the  great  majority 
of  the  population  was  totally  ignorant  and  uneducated 
and  also  that  the  upper  classes  then  possessed  a  real 
political  sense  of  governing  according  to  the  needs  of 
that  day,  what  other  system  would  have  been  possible? 
Though  morally  indefensible,  the  boroughmongering 
really  amounted  to  but  a  side  issue  ;  the  electorate  as 
we  see  it  to-day  had  no  vote  and  were  not  fit  to  vote ; 
all  that  was  to  come  later  on,  bringing  with  it  the 
results  that  we  now  see. 

The  worst  effect  produced  by  the  pre- Reform  Bill 
system  of  government  was  in  my  opinion  the  enclo- 
sure of  so  much  common  land.  Our  ancestors  of 
course  did  not  know  of  what  benefit  open  spaces  would 
be  to  a  posterity  much  of  which  lives  cooped  up  in 
towns. 

This  shortsighted  policy  deprived  a  section  of  the 
populace  of  its  rightful  share  of  light  and  air. 


302     FANCIES,    FASHIONS,   AND   FADS 

During  the  reigns  of  the  first  three  Georges,  the 
House  of  Commons  was  constantly  passing  Enclosure 
Acts.  It  did  not,  it  is  true,  always  do  so  from 
motives  of  greed;  in  many  cases  there  was  a  justifiable 
desire  to  increase  production.  The  result,  however, 
was  that  far  too  many  acres  of  common  land  were 
taken  away  from  their  rightful  owners — and  in  this 
matter  the  people  have  a  real  grievance  against  their 
rulers  of  the  past.  On  the  other  hand  great  landlords 
and  landowners  within  more  recent  times  have  been 
very  generous  in  presenting  public  parks  and  facilitat- 
ing the  acquisition  of  open  spaces — this,  however, 
does  not  wipe  out  injustice  sustained  in  the  past. 

Another  mistake  made  by  a  large  number  of  old- 
fashioned  peers  and  landowners  was  keeping  the  newly 
made  railways  as  far  on  the  outskirts  of  their  estates 
as  possible,  thus,  unwittingly,  hindering  the  prosperity 
of  small  country  towns  and  impoverishing  their  suc- 
cessors. 

The  very  last  speech  which  Lord  Eldon — probably 
one  of  the  greatest  reactionary  extremists  who  ever 
lived — made  in  the  House  of  Lords  was  against  the 
Bill  authorizing  the  Great  Western  Railway — rail- 
ways being,  as  he  told  his  fellow- peers,  dangerous 
innovations. 

Nevertheless,  taking  it  all  in  all,  the  England  of  the 
past  was  happy  and  content. 

"  I  have  seen,"  wrote  Chateaubriand,  "  the  famous 
British  Parliaments  in  all  their  power.  What  will 
they  become  ? 

"  I    have  seen    England   with    its  ancient  customs 


THE   CHARM   OF   ENGLAND         303 

enjoying  its  ancient  prosperity :  everywhere  the 
solitary  little  church  with  its  tower,  the  country 
churchyard  of  Gray  ;  everywhere  roads  narrow  and 
well  kept,  valleys  teeming  with  cattle,  fields  dotted 
over  with  sheep,  parks,  mansions,  towns,  few  great 
woods,  few  birds,  and  the  breeze  from  the  sea.  .  .  . 

"  Enfin,  telle  qu'elle  etait,"  continues  he,  "  cette 
Angleterre,  entouree  de  ses  navires,  couverte  de  ses 
troupeaux  et  professant  le  culte  de  ses  grands  hommes, 
etait  charmante  et  redoutable." 


INDEX 


Abergavenny,  Lord,  45 
Advertising,  177, 178 
Esthetes  of  the  seventies,  179,  180 
Afghanistan,   Ameer  of,  217;   his 

strange  regiment,  217 
Americans,  4,  5,  6 
Anarchism,  its  theories  and  leaders, 

155-7 
Anti-Betting  Bill,  Lord  Newton's, 

274,  276 
Anti-Moneylending     Bill,      Lord 

Newton's,  272-6 
Architecture  ineptness  of  modern 

English,   169 
Aristocracy,  7,  8,  10,  n,  12,  14,  15, 

19,  21,  23 
Art,  indifference  of  the  English  to, 

160 
Automobile,      influence      of      on 

clothes,  193 


Baccarat,  79 

Bamboozling  constituencies,    16 ; 

superiority  of  Liberals  in,   51 
Bands,  silent,  233 
Bank    balance,  mania    for  large, 

266,  267 

"  Bankers'  furniture,"  175 
Barrington,  Charles,  the  late  Mr., 

seeC.  B. 


Beaconsfield,  Lord,  32,  43-6  ;  his 
generosity,  44,  47 

Bearskin  cap,  its  evolution,  229, 
230 

Beefsteak  Club  (Cambridge),  62 

Bennett,  Little,  the  late,  76,  77 

Besant,  the  late  Sir  Walter,  57 

Bignon's,  120 ;  supper-party  at, 
121,  122 

Billington  Greig,  Mrs.,  her  ex- 
posure of  the  White  Slave  Trade 
agitation,  253,  254 

Blackwood,  137 

Blessing  of  the  swords,  the,  243 

Bliicher,  effects  of  a  good  dinner 
upon,  108,  109 

Blue  Posts,  the,  95 

Bois  de  Boulogne,  its  memories, 
140 ;  appearance  during  the 
Second  Empire  and  later,  140, 
141 

Boulanger,  General,  144,  145-7  •' 
cunning  manoeuvres  employed 
to  defeat  his  schemes,  148-50 

Bouquet,  Lieutenant-Colonel,  242 

Bouquier,  astounding  report  fur- 
nished by,  187 

Bowes,  Mr.  (owner  of  Derby 
winner,  1835),  63 

Bradlaugh,  Charles,  51-3 

Brampton,  Lord,  256,  257 


306     FANCIES,   FASHIONS,   AND   FADS 


Brebant's,  1 19, 120 

Bright,  John,  290 

Bristol  (restaurant),  95,  96 

Bucks  and  Beaux,  26,  58 

Buddhism,  260,  261 

Bulgarians,  atrocities  on  and  by, 

34-6 

Burdett-Coutts,  Baroness,  95 
Byron,  38 

Cafe  Anglais,  in,  116 
Cafe  de  la  Madeleine,  no 
Cafe  des  Ambassadeurs,  120 
Cafe  d'Orleans,  no 
Cafe  du  Roi,  concerning  the,  112 
Cafe  Royale,  94 
Cambridge,  late  Duke  of,  236 
Campeggio,  Cardinal,  92 
Cannon,  ornamental,  of  Cromwell 

and  Louis  XIV,  241 
Cap,  modern  cloth,  202  ;  a  vulgar 

and  plebeian  head  covering,  202 
Cap,  various  forms  of,  196,  197 
Carbineers,  231,  232 
Cardigan,  Lord,  241 
Careme,  107 
Carl  ton  Hotel,  299 
Carlton  Restaurant,  100 
Carnot,  the  great,  223 
Carnot,  the  late  president,  151,  152, 

153  ;  recollections  of  his  funeral, 

153,  154 

Casimir  Perier,  president,  154 

Cavalry  helmet,  French,  215,  216 

C.  B.  (the  late  Mr.  Charles  Barring- 
ton), anecdotes  concerning,  73-91 

Cecil  family,  55,  56 

Cent  Gardes,  220,  222 

Champagne  Charley,  72 

Charles  I,  costume  during  reign  of, 

201 

Chartreuse,  Grande,  the,  297,  298 
Chateaubriand,  28,  302 


Chinese,  abandonment  of  national 

dress  by  officials,  204,  205,  206 
Chinese  Labour,  a  shameless  and 

infamous  cry,  47,  48 
Clerk,  hard  lot  of  the,  278 
Cleveland,      Mrs.,      her      protest 

against  abandonment  of  ancient 

Japanese  court  costume,  207 
Cocked  hat,  195 
Coffee  taverns,  95 
Cogitants,  the,  262 
Combat  des  Animaux,  le,  64 
Comminges,  Philip  de,  294 
Common  land,  301,  302 
Conan  Doyle,  Sir  A.,  64 
Conservatives,  futile  tactics  of,  43, 

46 
Constans,    M.,  the  late,    147 ;   his 

astuteness  in  defeating  General 

Boulanger,  147,  148 
Cork  Street,  95 
Covent  Garden  Ball,  practical  joke 

at,  99,  100 

Cox,  Harold,  Mr.,  54 
Craze  for  antiques,  the,  161,  162 
Cromwell,  292,  293 
Curzon,  Lord,  his  efforts  to  save 

"Globe  Room"  at  Banbury,  163 

Daly's,  104 

Darlington,  Lord,  300 

Dejeau,  Napoleonic  general  fond 

of  entomology,  224,  225 
Detaille,  M.,  strange  failure  of  his 

designs   for    dress    of    French 

army,  227,  235 
Devonshire,  Duke  of,  41-3 
Dorney  Court,  200 
Dreyfus,  M.  Abraham,  112 
Dreyfus,  Captain,  157-9 
Drummond    Wolff,   the    late    Sir 

Henry,  51,  52,  53 
Drunkards'  colony,  249 


INDEX 


307 


Duels,  curious,  140 
Dufferin,  the  late  Lord,  153 
Dundas,  Admiral,  247 
Durand's,  107 

Dysart,  Lord,  anecdote   concern- 
ing, 267,  268 

Edward  VII,  3,  5 

Egan,  Pierce,  62,63,  7°>  72 

Eiger,  ascent  of  by  C.  B.,  90 

Eldon,  Lord,  302 

Empire,  people  who  preferred  it 

to  the  Alhambra  at  Granada,  162 
"En  Revenantde  la  Revue,"  famous 

song  sung  by  Paulus,  144 
English  of  Victorian  Era,   172-4, 

181-3 

English  Review,  253 
Erskine,  Lord,  252 
Eton,  95,  105,  164 
Exercise,  258 
Exhibition  of  1851,  176 

Factory  system,  177,  279 

Fad,  development  of  a,  248 

Faillieres,  M.,  152 

Fashions,  feminine,  189,  190 

Fathi  Ali  Shah,  203 

Feather   bonnet   saved  by  Queen 

Victoria,  235 
Filson  Young,  Mr.,  an  able  critic 

of  modern  methods,  172 
France,  Anatole,  284 
Francis  I,  109 

French  rule,  popularity  of,  151 
Freres    Provcncaux     (restaurant), 

109 
Fresh  air,  257,  258 

"  Gaby  Glide,"  the,  234 

Gaelic,  anecdote  concerning,  192, 

193 

Gaiety  Theatre,  104 


Garibaldi,  241 

Garrick,  stage  costume  of,  201 

Gendarmerie,  French,  222 

George  IV,  King,  67, 190 

Globe  room  at  Banbury  and  in- 
difference of  inhabitants  of  latter 
town  to  its  removal,  162-3 

Gladstone,  Mr.,  33-41,  48  ;  noble 
speech  of,  53 

Gordon  Lennox,  Lady  Algernon, 
her  efforts  to  save  "Globe 
Room"  at  Banbury,  163 

Grande  Seize,  a  famous  private 
room  in  the  Cafe  Anglais,  in 

Graphic,  the,  137 

Gray,  the  ipoet,  302 

Grevy,  M.,  152 

Hamilton,  Duke  of,  117 

Handel,  108 

Hand-made  goods,  177 

Harris,  Sir  Augustus,  99,  100 

Haruko,  Empress,  206 

Hebraic  domination  of  Society,  2, 3 

Henry  IV,  132,  297 

Hewson,  late  Mr.,  85,  86,  87 

Hogarth,  12 

Hogge,  Mr.  James,  274 

Hollow    Sword   Blade  Company, 

239 

House  of  Commons,  faddist  legis- 
lation in,  252 

House  of  Temperley,  64 

Huguenots,  295,  297 

Human  Opticon,  the  Great,  86 

Japanese,    adoption  of   European 

dress  by,   204,  206-9 
Jubilee  Juggins,  96 

Kelly,  Captain,  88 
Kelvin  memorial  window,  strange 
design  of,  168, 169 


308    FANCIES,   FASHIONS,   AND   FADS 


Kemble,  John,  invents  composite 

stage  costume,  201 
Khaki,  217,  218,  235 
King  of  Westphalia,  anecdote  of, 

113-16 

King,  Mr.  Josiah,  252 
Kingsley,  Charles,  290 
Kiinstler  Lexicon,  Nagler's,  65 

Latham  of  the  Buffs  and  his 
gallantry  at  Albuera,  242,  243 

Latham,  Hubert,  aviator,  243 

Lee,  Mr.  Arthur,  254 

Lee,  the  late  Rev.  Bolles,  and 
his  protest  against  removal  of 
Winchester  College  panelling, 
165 

L' Estrange,  87 

Leveson-Gower,  Mr.,  his  efforts  to 
combat  vandalism,  164-6 

Lewis,  Sam,  268-7 1 

Light  Dragoons,  218 

Liverpool,  Lord,  his  gloomy  fore- 
cast, 29 

Lloyd  George,  Mr.,  48-50,  55,  295 

London,  Bishop  of,  286 

Lonsdale,  Lord,  300,  301 

Loti,  Pierre,  206 

Louis  XIV,  198,  241 

Louis  Philippe,  109;  attempt 
upon,  133 

Louis  XVI,  288,  293 

Lowenthal,  Dr.,  his  curious  re- 
ligion, 262 

Luchet,  M.,  109 

Lyndhurst,  Lord,  196 

Mabille,  141,  142 
McCalmont,  Colonel,  77 
Macaulay,  Catherine,  30,  31 
Mackenzie  Grieves,  late  Mr.,  25,  26 
Maintenon,  Madame  de,  295 
Maison  d'Oree,  in,  116-19 


Maison  d'Oree  Club,  117 
Malahide,  Grey  (steeplechaser),  89, 

90 

Marat,  his  house,  134 
Marconi  affair,  49,  50,  51,  53 
Marrying  for  money,  6,  7,  1 1 
Martin,  late  Mr.  Bob  (Ballyhooley), 

87 

Martin,  Richard,  252 

Materialism,  263 

Mikado,  the  late,  209  ;  devotion  to, 
209,  210 

Milne,  the  late  Mr.  and  his  collec- 
tion, 214 

Milor  of  the  past,  127 

Moneylending,  271-4 

Moore,  Tom,  16,  23 

Morning  Post,  254 

Mundig  (racehorse),  63 

Murray,  Lord,  50 

Napoleon,  38,  132,  137,  215,  216, 
217,  219,  223-7 

Napoleon  III,  132,  134,  135,  141 

Nasreddin,  Shah  of  Persia  and  his 
dress,  198,  199 

Navy,  13 

Neitzsche,  8 

Newton,  Lord,  272-6 

Nikko,  author's  experience  at,  208 

Nogi,  General,  his  heroic  self- 
sacrifice,  210,  211 

"  Nut,"  the,  25  ;  description  of  his 
ideals  by  Byron,  58 

Officers'  uniform,  cost  of,  231 
Opera  Comique,  author's  reminis- 
cences of  its  being  on  fire,  118 
Overpopulation,  evils  of,  284-6 

Palace  of  peace,  250 
Paris,  recollections  of,   123,  154  ; 
hotels  of,  123,  124 


INDEX 


309 


Paul  Prys,  legislative,  250 

Paulus  (famous  cafe  concert 
singer),  120,  143-5 

Peel,  Sir  Robert,  72 

Peers,  old  and  new,  17,  18,  20,  24, 
28,  41,  42 

Phonetic  spelling,  266 

Pickelhaube,  214 

Pineapple,  first  raised  in  England, 
200 

Poincare,  M.,  234 

Preservation  of  Ancient  Buildings, 
the  Society  for,  and  its  admir- 
able but  little  appreciated 
efforts  to  check  vandalism,  167 

Prince  Imperial,  his  dislike  to  the 
Grenadier  cap,  220-1 

"  Progressive  "  fads,  249,  250 

Protestantism,  265 

Punch,  its  composition,  60 

Punch,  its  youth  revived  under  new 
editor,  71 

Renan,  quotation  from,  27 

Restaurants  of  London,  92-107  ; 
of  Paris,  107-22 

"  Restoration,"  artistic  horrors  of, 
166 

Resumption,  281 

Revolutionary  vandalism,  184-8 

Richard  (waiter  at  Sheridan  Club, 
Dublin),  78,  79 

Rifles,  6oth,  242 

Ritz,  M.,  92,  105 

Roman  Catholicism,  264,  297 

Rome,  191 

Rose,  gardener  of  Charles  II,  200 

Rosebery,  Lord,  49 

Rotten  Row,  194 

Rotterdam,  recent  destruction  of 
old  English  church  there  dis- 
creditable to  everyone  con- 
cerned, 166 


Rue  de  Rivoli,  the,  129-31 
Russian  military  uniform  (modern), 
226,  227 

Sala,  George  Augustus,  181 

Sam  Lewis,  96 

Savoy  restaurant,  50,  96,  97,  100, 

102,  106 

Scarsdale,  Lord,  12 
Schopenhauer,  283 
Seaman,  Owen,  Mr.,  70 
Seymour,  Lord  Henry,  128,  133 
Shaftesbury,  Lord,  95 
Shako,  designs  for  new,  230 
Sheridan  Club  and    its  members 

account  of,  73-91 
Shooting,  9,  10 
Sievier,  Mr.  Robert,  276 
Simon  Pure,  65,  66 
Sinecures,  20-3 
Slash,  the,  229 
Smart  set,  3 
Socialism,  280,  283,286 
Society,  i,  2,  8,  32,  33 
Stephen's  Hotel,  98 
Stratford,  Esme-Wingfield,  Mr.,  39 
Sylvain,  M.,  proprietor  of  Durand's, 

144 

Tcheng-ki-Tong,  the  late  General, 

135 

Temperance,  248 
Territorial  system,  236 
Terry,  Major-General,  213 
Thibaudin,      General,      abolishes 

drums  in  French  army,  219 
"  Tom  and  Jerry,"  63-72  ;  amusing 

skit  in  Punch,  70,  71 
Toole,  the  late  Mr.,  135 
Top-hat,  its  rise  and  survival,  194, 

195 
Tourist,  the  English,  126,  127 


310    FANCIES,   FASHIONS,   AND   FADS 


Tuileries,  the,  131,  132 
Turban,  203 

Uniform,  212-47 
Uniform,  naval,  246,  247 
Unionist  party,  impotence  of,  55 

Valentin  le  Desosse,  recollections 
of  this  celebrated  dancer,  141-3 
Vandyke,  201 
Vefour  (restaurant),  109 
Vegetarianism,  259 
Verdier,  M.,  116 
Very  (restaurant),  109 
Victorian  taste,  172-4,  181-3 
Virginia,  governorship  of,  21 

"Wacht    am    Rhein,"    sung    by 
Bavarians  after  entry  into  Paris, 

138 

Waldron,  Mr.  John,  88,  89 
Ward  Hunt,  staghounds,  88  ;  cup, 

88 
Warders     of    the     Tower,    their 

uniform,  232,  233 


Wellington,  Duke  of,  his  dinner  to 
Bliicher,  108,  109 ;  his  habit  of 
discouraging  officers  from  wear- 
ing uniform,  245  ;  other  refer- 
ences to,  13,  29 

Whibley,  Mr.  Charles,  290 

Whipping-posts,  249 

Whistler,  his  designs  for  Savoy 
Restaurant,  97 

White  Slave  Trade,  agitation  con- 
cerning, 253,  254 

Wille,  185 

Willoughby  de  Broke,  Lord,  253 

Winchester  College  panelling,  re- 
moval of,  164,  165 

Winning  Post,  276 

Woman's  Suffrage,  56,  248 

Yuan  Shi  Kai  adopts  European 
dress,  206 

Zimmermann,  General,  taken  for 

the  Emperor  William  I,  137 
Zola,  Emile,  159 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 

Los  Angeles 
This  book  is  DUE  on  the  last  date  stamped  below. 


NO  PHONE  RE 


MAR  12  1986 


1997 


MEW;. 


A     000028257     4 


